Us Against Them
by Xxx-Aka-Ketsueki-xxX
Summary: After a massive experiment goes bad in Kabuto's lab, a major plague attacks the Naruto-verse. It affects few people, but the overall rate of infection is unbelievable. Now, very few people are yet to be infested and the remaining survivors must fight to live... Rated M for language, violence, and sexual themes. Naruto/Zombie/Apocalyptic/Survivor plot.
1. Chapter One: Out In The Open

_**A/N: This story was greatly inspired to me after watching an anime called 'High School of the Dead'. It was a show that had me hooked from the beginning and I loved every minute of it. There was only one HUGE flaw to it, however...**_

_**It only had TWELVE Episodes. **_

_**And for those of you wondering, yes, it is a completed show. Who makes an AWESOME anime, but only creates TWELVE episodes for it?**_

_**Bastards.**_

_**It had everything any anime-lover/male would love; Blood, zombies, guns, hot girls, partial nudity (no real sex scenes...) and sexual themes every now and then. I know there's a manga for it, but I much prefer anime instead.**_

_**Did I get off topic?**_

_**Anyway, here's a Naruto horror story for ya. I know there's only a few out there on FF, so that adds to being a unique story. :)**_

_**Oh, and no; the setting will not take place in a high school. This is the normal Naruto-verse.**_

* * *

><p>In the corner of the room, Naruto could continue to hear her sobbing. He hated when she cried. He hated when <em>any<em> girl cried. He just sighs and let his head drop, looking down at the floor. He couldn't close his eyes. He just couldn't. The images of that bloody face would pop into his subconscious. And the haunting memory of what he did would playback over and over again. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept since this whole shit had happened. He couldn't even remember what day it is today.

Not that it really mattered.

Taking in a very deep breath, Naruto mustered up his strength to stand up. He walked over to her and stared at her as she cried into her knees. Once he got up to her, he gently put a hand on her shoulder. He watched as she nearly jumped out of her skin at his touch. He could tell that she was still pretty shaken up. Hell, who wouldn't be?

"Come on." Naruto told her gently, his voice still scratchy from not talking in a while. "We have to go."

"Go? Go where? Are you fucking kidding me? I'm not going back out there!" she barked at him. He didn't flinch at all. He kept his composer and the same expressionless face never changed. He just stared into her teary, light blue eyes.

"We have to. We're running low on food and supplies and if we don't go now, we'll starve to death." he said.

"I don't give a fuck!" she exclaimed. Naruto just stared at the bags under her eyes from all the crying as she continued to yell at him. "I'm not going out there! We'd be better off just waiting here until help arrives!"

"Ino," Naruto said gently. "I doubt that any type of help will be here anytime soon. The best thing to do is to go out in search of food. Even still, we have to go eventually because staying couped up in here for the rest of our lives will lead us nowhere." he told her. Ino remained quiet.

"...Why even bother...?" Ino whispered as the tears began swelling again. "If we leave, we die. If we stay, we die. The best thing to do is to just stay here and wait 'till we starve to death. That way, it'd be a painless way out..."

"Ino, we're not going to die. I'll protect you, even if-"

"Oh, like how you protected Tsunade-sama...?"

Naruto could literally feel the pain stab his heart after she said that.

"If Tsunade-sama couldn't make it, what makes you think that we will? We're all done for, and you know it..." she mumbled, going back to crying into her knees as she has been for the past few hours. Ino's last comment still hurt Naruto badly. But trying to brush it off to the side, he simply sighs and goes down on on knee to meet Ino eye-to-eye.

"I wont let that happen again, Ino-chan. I promise. And you know how I always keep my promises." he whispered to her with a small considerate smile. Ino didn't respond right away, but she raised her head to look at Naruto. Her eyes narrowed.

"That's the same thing you said to Sakura after Tsunade died. And look how she ended up."

A man can only take so much damage to the heart before he snaps.

"Ugh...!" Ino groaned as she felt her back hit the wall. She re-opened her eyes and could see a very pissed off Uzumaki staring deep into her own eyes. Her hands were pinned above her head by him and cursed as his strength was hurting her wrists. Her eyes widened when she saw his eyes change from a deep blue to a ghastly purple.

"Damn it Ino, don't you think I fucking know that!" Naruto roared in her face. She could see that his canines got longer. "I know what I said! Tsunade was like a mother to me, and a sensei to you! Sakura was the fucking love of my life, and your best friend! I know I failed to protect them! I know I fucked up! So you don't have to keep bringing that shit up all the damn time! It's bad enough that we may possibly be the only ones alive in Konoha, hell, possibly even the whole world, but mentioning my failures makes it better for nobody! Even though we don't know each other that well, we're the only ones left, and you're the only thing left that's precious to me! I can't afford to lose you too!"

Naruto and Ino just stare at each other, both holding opposite facial expressions. Ino's held a look of fear and shock, while Naruto held a look of anger and guilt. His expression hardened even more.

"And what the fuck have YOU done to save Sakura-chan or Baa-chan?"

"..."

"Exactly. Nothing."

"..."

"Fuck it," Naruto declared finally after a long pregnant pause. He let Ino go and grabbed his backpack. "If you want to stay here and die, be my fucking guest. But I, on the other hand, want to live. See ya later, Ino-chan. Or maybe not." Naruto grunted as he began heading for the door.

"W-Wait!" Ino shouted towards him. He simply ignored her and released the barrier jutsu. Just as he grabbed the door handle and twisted it...

"I'm sorry..." Ino whimpered as he felt her arms wrap around his waist and tears stain his back. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun... I've been a real bitch to you for the past two days... It's just that... w-with what happened... recently, I-I... Oh God, I'm so sorry Naruto-kun! You don't deserve what I've been putting you through...!"

"..."

"It's bad enough that everything is like how it is, but you don't deserve my attitude... I've just been through a lot, I mean... I've seen my dad die and become one of _them_ in front of my own eyes. I hope that you can just forgive me Naruto, even if I don't deserve it... Just please... please... don't leave me..." she pleads, her sobbing and tears going berserk.

"..."

Ino gasps as Naruto turns around and holds her tightly in his arms. She then lets her muscles relax and pours her tears into the chest of Naruto's jacket. She holds Naruto tight as if he'd dissolve away if she let go.

"I forgive you, Ino-chan." Naruto whispers, letting his own tears fall. "We'll get through this together. I know I've said it before, but I _promise_ that I won't let anything happen to you. I swear that on my life."

Naruto and Ino spend the next twenty minutes crying in each other's arms using their body heat to comfort each other.

* * *

><p><strong><em>*Two Days Earlier*<em>**

"Ah man, that ramen never gets old!" Naruto declared happily, rubbing his satisfied stomach with both hands. Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kakashi all stared at the fact that it was bulging out of his jacket.

"Forty-four bowls." Sakura commented. "Wow, Naruto-kun... That's a new record for you." she remarked with an intrigued smile. Naruto turned his head to look at her and grinned.

"Psh! Naw, I've had way more than that before! This is probably the most you've seen me eat. I eaten a lot more when I was by myself!" Naruto said proudly as the five continued down the streets of Konoha.

"Be that as it may," Kakashi says. "I'm just glad that you payed the bill for once." he mentions, very relieved that he didn't have to pay the combined total of 4502.76 ryu for them. Usually, it's somewhere around 3000 ryu...

"Hehe, yeah... I was feeling a little generous today. That last payment from my last mission put quite a bit of money in my pocket." Naruto replies, putting his hands behind his head in a content manner.

"Geez, you're worse than Choji... I know you make Teuchi-san a very rich man." Shikamaru states with a smirk.

"Where does he even put it all...? I wish I can eat like that and maintain my figure..." Ino complains to Sakura, who simply giggles in response.

"Kakashi-senpai!" they suddenly hear and can see a masked ANBU member to their right.

"Yes?" Kakashi replies.

"Tsunade-sama requests to see you," the ANBU Black Ops Member informs him. He then looks over toward the man with the pineapple head. "and you too, Shikamaru-san."

"Eh? Me? What does she want with me?" Shikamaru questions with a cocked eyebrow. The ANBU member simply shrugs.

"She didn't say. All she said is that she wishes to see the both of you ASAP." he replies.

"Troublesome." The Shadow Manipulator groans. "Alright guys, I'll see you later. Come on, Kakashi-sensei." Shikamaru waves goodbye before he, Kakashi, and the ANBU shunshin in a poof of smoke.

"Huh. That was weird." Naruto states, gaining two nods of agreement from his two female partners. He then shrugs it off.

"Hey, Pig." Sakura suddenly says to Ino with a smile. "Since Naruto-kun has been so courteous enough to treat us all to ramen, hows about you and I teach him how to shop for a woman?" she suggests. Ino forms a similar smirk to Sakura's as Naruto sweatdrops.

"Not a bad idea, Forehead. Lets." Ino says. Naruto gets nervous as both women look at him with a devious grin.

"Uh...! Geez guys, I'd love to, but uh... I got this thing to go to at a place with this guy at a certain time... and I think I'm late for it..." Naruto mumbles, trying to ease his way away from the two girls. But before he even gets a chance to turn around and run away, Sakura already has him tightly by the collar, preventing his escape.

"Oh no you don't!" Sakura declares victoriously. They then begin to walk, contemplating which store the should go to first... dragging Naruto in the process.

_"Fuck my life."_ Naruto thinks to himself flatly.

* * *

><p><strong><em>*Present*<em>**

"N-Naruto-kun, I'm so scared...!" Ino whimpers, holding onto Naruto's arm as if she'd get lost if she let go. Naruto was equally as nervous, but it'd be best to hide his fear for Ino's sake. It'd only been two minutes since they left their barricade in the Hokage tower, and now the two are slowly walking down the same street that the Yamanaka flower shop is located**_._**

"Don't be scared, Ino-chan. I'm right here and I'm not letting anything happen to you." Naruto whispered to comfort her. It only worked slightly, but Ino was still tearing. "Try not to cry so much, Ino-chan. I need to listen out for one of _them_." he told her. That immediately silenced her whimpering, but her tears would not cease.

Naruto was seriously on his toes and listening for any rustling nearby. Konoha was so quiet. It has _never_ been this quiet. It looked so... dead and deserted. But Naruto knew well enough that _they_ were out here with him crawling and lurking about. His head turned every direction every few seconds, knowing that _they_ were masters of sneak attacks. Especially since _they_ were still shinobi...

"Ino-chan, if you hear _anything_ let me know, okay?" Naruto told her cautiously. He didn't see her nod, since he just couldn't keep his eyes away from his environment for even a second, but he felt her head nod against his shoulder. He noted that Konoha looked so... devious... Even though it was daytime at the moment, everything still looked so dark and creepy. The sky was a sickly red color, which was beyond unusual.

_"Reminds me of those scary zombie movies..."_ Naruto thought to himself with a dry chuckle. _"Only this ain't a movie and Ino-chan and I are the main characters."_

"N...N-Naruto-kun... I think I-I... heard something..." Ino whispered so quietly that Naruto almost didn't hear her. He stopped in place and held his breath.

"...Where?"

"B-Behind us..."

He gulped and tensed his body. Slowly turning around, Naruto pivoted and took a look at what was behind them.

...He felt his heart jump and start to pound faster in his chest.

There was one of _them._ A deceased ANBU Black Op. Those were one of the things that would haunt Naruto's memory if he ever dared to close his eyes. It was missing a mask, so they could tell that it was a female. She sported a brown bob-cut hairstyle. She would have been fairly attractive if it weren't for a few factors...

For one thing, she was missing an eyeball.

Her skin was disgustingly pale; her skin color may as well be called grey. Blood drooled out of her mouth and oozed out of her eye socket where her eye is missing. Her other eye was rolled all the way into the back of her head, giving it a pupil-less, vein-bulging look. Her ANBU outfit was ripped to shreds, but still hung on her. Every area where there was a hole in her outfit either revealed a bloodstain, or an area where it showed her insides, providing evidence that she was either part of one of _their_ snacks, or someone tried to finish her off.

Ino almost gagged when she saw a little bit of her muscle and fat hanging out of her arm.

"...Ino..." Naruto breathed, just as the female zombie slowly turned it's head in their direction. Once she spotted them, she stuck her putrid, long tongue out and licked around her mouth, spotting prey. "I w-want you to run... Now. I'll hold it off."

"No, Naruto." Ino protested as the mutant zombie took a step towards them. "I'm not leaving, and I'm not going anywhere by myself. We're doing this together."

Naruto sighed, but didn't feel obligated to put up a fight against her. "F-Fine." He growled. He wasn't frustrated with Ino's disobedience, he growled because he couldn't decide whether or not to run or to stay and fight. Those _things_ may be brainless and dead, but they were fast. Their speed was nothing short of Kage-level. He knew that normal ANBU aren't that fast, and that this... transformation greatly improved their speed.

And their strength.

The last time he tangled with on of them, he felt as if he was fighting Tsunade. He knew they weren't just as strong as her, but they were pretty close. Which is why he didn't want to fight or run.

He knew one thing for sure though... He better make up his mind quick. _It_ started to rapidly close the gap between them.

"S-Shit...!" Naruto grunted. "Ino-chan, hurry up and jump on my back!" he told her. She looked at him questioningly.

"Why would you w-?"

"JUST DO IT!" he shouted as the zombie began sprinting. With a little bit of hesitation, Ino jumped on his back and soon as he made she that she was secure on his back, he turned back around and took off. "Hang on!" he said. Ino did as she was told and held Naruto as tight as she could. Naruto dreaded the fact that chakra wasn't on his side today; due to the lack of sleep, he barely had any at all. He could use a few Kage-Bunshins, and maybe form a few Rasengans, but that was almost all he had at his disposal, and they're scarce at the moment, therefor, he felt that he should use them unless it's absolutely necessary. Of course, he had Kyuubi's chakra as well, but he in his right mind didn't trust himself to use it unless he or Ino was hairs away from danger.

"N-Naruto-kun, she's right on our ass!" Ino informs him, looking back only to see the undead ANBU was catching up with them.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, dreading the fact that he's running as fast as he could and she's still catching up. "Ino, do you have any kunai or weapons on you?"

"N-No, all the weapons I had I already used and lost..." she responds, barely missing a chance of getting caught by their pursuer by arching her back. Otherwise, she would have caught a hold on Ino's blouse. Ino's lights up when she gets an idea. "Naruto! Head toward my house! My family and I have a storage place for weapons!"

"Uh...! We're going to have to take a detour, though." Naruto grunts. Ino was about to ask why until she looked forward and saw a whole group of _them_ up ahead lined up in a circle, probably sharing a body for dinner. Thinking fast, Naruto jumps up on one of the roofs, the female ANBU still following his steps. "And we're going to have to lose this bitch, too." he adds. He then curses again that some of the undead were on the rooftops as well.

"How do you think we're going to lose her, Naruto-kun? Because I think she was just just chasing us for kicks up until now..." Ino states, noting the fact that the brunette zombie was beginning to get a little more serious.

"I don't know, Ino-chan. I have a few ideas, but they're very risky..." he says, amazing himself at his ability to concentrate on thinking while running from and avoiding the undead at the same time. "Ino... I _really_ hope that you have more jutsu and techniques besides medical ninjutsu and that Shinrashin technique..."

"Actually, I have quite a lot of Shinrashin techniques... But they're pretty useless on undead, brainless zombies..." she sighs. Naruto does the same.

"Shit... I need more chakra... If I had more, I could probably take care of this bitch myself." Naruto growls. Ino raises an eyebrow.

"If all you needed was chakra, you should have- AH!" Ino yelps mid-sentence when the deceased ANBU grabs Ino's blouse by the collar. "Naruto! She has my blouse!" Ino yells.

"Then take that shit off!" Naruto yells back.

"B-But all I have is a bra on under thi-"

"OH FOR GOD'S SAKE, INO!" Naruto roars. "Worry about that later! Do you want to die instead?"

Ino whimpers and quickly undresses her blouse, thanking the fact that Naruto was holding her thighs, otherwise, she would have fell off of his back. Due to the inertia of pulling on Ino's blouse, the ANBU staggers a bit when Ino sheds her purple blouse, ripping it mid-way through.

"...That was my favorite shirt..." An almost bare-chested Ino complains, wrapping her arms around Naruto's waist for security. The ANBU only drops the blouse and resumes it's task in chasing the two living shinobi.

"Get over it. You probably have, like, forty of the same one in your closet somewhere." Naruto says flatly. Ino groans.

"Thirty-two." she mumbles. Naruto rolls his eyes, but says nothing. He then speaks up upon remembering something. "Now what were you saying before about me needing chakra?" he asks, still swiftly and gracefully avoiding contact with the other nearby undead, while dodging the strikes from the one behind him.

"Oh, I was saying that if all you needed was chakra, then you should have told me earlier."

"Why?"

"Because my dad taught me this technique where I can transfer my chakra reserves to another being via mind techniques. The only downfall to it is that I'll be unconscious for twenty-four hours after I do it..." Ino says worriedly. Naruto thinks for a minute.

"...Ino-chan, do you trust me?"

"At this particular moment, I'd trust you with my whole life right now!"

"Good," Naruto says. "Perform that technique. I'll make sure that your body is safe once you give me the chakra, okay?" _"Even though Ino-chan's chakra reserves are nothing compared to mine. But at this moment, I can use all the chakra I can get."_ Naruto says mentally.

"Alright..."

"Okay, so what do I have to do?" he asks, making a sharp U-turn upon realizing that he almost got boxed in by _them_.

"I have to form these five hand seals..." She says, forming them while Naruto holds on tight to Ino's thighs and legs. "Then I have to um..."

"...Yes?"

"Uh..."

"Come on, Ino-chan! We don't have all day!" Naruto groans, while walking up a brick chimney, then performing a back flip over the zombie chasing them.

"Turn your head towards me, Naruto-kun." she says. Not hesitating to do as she says, he turns his head where her face is, still looking at where he's going through the corner of his eyes.

He almost staggers and falls into a deep alleyway when Ino kisses him.

He was about to break the kiss and ask what the hell she was doing, but suddenly feels himself feeling more...energetic. He could feel Ino's chakra poring into his body through each other's mouths, and loved the feeling of it.

They two continue their lip-lock, while Naruto simultaneously looked through his peripheral vision to see where he was going, until he feels Ino go limp in his arms. He parts his lips away from Ino's and grins when he feels new strength course through his veins.

_"She had a little bit more chakra than I thought." _Naruto thought. _"And Ino-chan, you would kill me if you were conscious to see what I'm about to do right now..."_ he adds. He then gathers as much strength in his legs as possible and jumps around 80 feet in the air. He releases Ino's thighs and performs a two-handed cross seal. "Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu!" he declares. In a poof, a shadow clone poofs into existence and catches the falling Ino and carries her bridal style once it lands on it's feet. He then creates two more and commands them to drop her off at the Yamanaka residence/flower shop and guard her while he (the real Naruto) is busy. The clones take off with Ino in another direction and can only _prey_ that they don't run into trouble along the way.

Naruto then stops in front of the putrid-looking female zombie, and takes his fighting stance once _it _stops as well. He blinks and notices that she didn't follow after the clones and Ino, almost as if she didn't see them.

_"So... This zombie has a crush on me or something? Or can it sense the real person apart from clones...?" _he notes. _"Even still, it didn't go after Ino either. I don't know, but I'm not complaining the least bit."_

**"Raagh...!"** the undead kunoichi hisses, opening its mouth to stick it's unbelievably long, disgusting-looking tongue out at Naruto. Naruto grimaces.

"Sorry, I already had a potential girlfriend." he says to it with a grin. He then frowns. "But then she had to become one of you bastards...!" he shouts, forming a clone to create a Rasengan.

"Go to Hell where you belong, you filthy fucking pieces of shit..."


	2. Chapter Two: How It All Began

"Mmngh..." Ino moans upon gaining consciousness. The headache she woke up to made her afraid to even open her eyes. But despite her eye's protests, she cracks her eyelids, a very blurry sight making her groan again. She then notes that whatever she's laying on is very comfortable and familiar. She slowly reclines herself so that she's holding herself up with one hand, the other one holding her head in an attempt to sooth her headache.

"Heh, hey look who's up." she hears a scratchy, knowable voice say to her.

"N-Naruto...?" she mumbles, opening her eyes a bit more to see more clearly. Her vision refocuses a bit more as she looks around the room. _"Hey, this is my room..."_ she notes to herself. Once she spots Naruto sitting on the edge of her bed that she was laid in, her eyes grow a lot wider.

"Naruto?" she repeats, looking at the tired grin he was holding. "Naruto! You're okay!" she jumps out of her position on the bed and quickly crawls toward the other blonde.

"Yeah, I'm- Agh!" Naruto grunts when Ino hugs him from behind. She heard his grunt and immediately backs away, to prevent any further harm. "Hey, whats wrong? What did I do?" she asks carefully. She can see that Naruto was still in pain and was hunching over.

It was then that she realized that her hands had his blood on them.

"Ahaha... the little bastards caught me off guard..." Naruto laughs dryly, despite the pain he was in. Ino was horrified.

"Nani! Naruto, what happened to you? Lay down on your back!" she tells him, getting the idea that whatever was bothering him was because of his torso.

With her assistance, Naruto lays back on her bed. She tells him to move his hands away from his gut and gasps as she sees a big blood stain on his jacket. She immediately unzips it and tells him to take off the white t-shirt under it that was even more bloodstained than the jacket. He does as told and Ino almost shrieks at seeing the two bite marks on his abs, along with a chuck of his flesh missing from the side of his torso.

"Oh my God...!" Ino whimpers. "Naruto... d-did you get bit by one of them...?" she asks, he hands still covering over her mouth in shock. Naruto laughs again, despite the pain of doing so.

"Hah, no... I got bit by three..." he replies. Ino can almost feel the her tear ducts filling as soon as he said that.

"Naruto..." she whimpers. "Do you realize what happens to you once you get bit...?"

"Yeah," he replies. "I turn into one of them, I know. But..." he begins to sit up, before a apprehensive Ino immediately, but gently pushes him back down. "But... It's been nearly twenty-four hours and nothing has happened so far as me becoming a disgusting cannibal. If I knew I was gonna become one of them, I wouldn't be here right now." he says honestly. Ino shows a confused, uncertain face.

"But... hundreds, maybe even thousands of people in Konoha have gotten bitten and transformed. So why haven't you...?"

"Hah, that Kyuubi maybe evil, but when It comes to me being in danger, he really pulls through..." Naruto mumbles with a painful grin. Ino blinks.

"...What?"

Naruto closes his eyes and chuckles, "Oh yeah, you're still one of the few that still doesn't know."

"Doesn't know what?" Ino questions, curiosity obvious.

The blonde Jinchuuriki takes a deep breath, "Sixteen years ago..."

* * *

><p><strong><em>20 Minutes Later<em>**

"Wow...I had no clue..." Ino mumbles once Naruto finishes with the truth of how the overgrown demon that attacked Konohagakure sixteen years ago got sealed inside him. Naruto chuckles at the shock on her face.

"It all makes sense now... No wonder why I've never seen you at the hospitals...And to think, that the Yondiame sealed the Kyuubi into you of all people." she mumbles, still very surprised. She then narrows her eyes at him. "Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you look like the Fourth Hokage? And that maybe you could be his son?" she asks. Naruto raises an eyebrow.

"No...What makes you say that?" he asks. She looks at him as if he said something stupid.

"The blue eyes? The blonde, spiky hair? You're almost an exact copy of him, only you have bigger eyes and whisker marks." she says flatly. Naruto thinks for a minute before showing a face of dismissal.

"Nah, I don't think that'd be possible. If I was the Yondiame's son, I don't think the villagers would treat me like the way they have been for sixteen years." he says. Ino thinks to herself for a minute and nods her head.

"Yeah, you're probably right." A sad look then washes over her face. "I can't believe that I was one of those people that were hard on you. I just never got to know the real you. I was young and I was just doing what everyone else was doing..."

"Ino-chan, it's okay."

"No it's not." she replies, on the verge of tears. "I can't believe how much of a shallow bitch I've been..."

"Ino..."

"I mean... I know it may be kind of late to realize this, but you're a really great person, Naruto-kun. People, including me, have been treating you like shit for something you couldn't control or had no choice in getting. I... I'm so sorry..." Ino sobs and lets two tears fall from each of her closed eyes. Naruto stares and tries to sit up to hug her, but the pain stops him from doing so. Ino hears him grunt in pain and stops her crying, allowing a small smile to break out on her face.

"I promise I'm going to make this up to you, Naruto-kun." she says. "But I guess I should start by helping you heal." she then places a hand above his chest where his wounds are and pours chakra into it. Green/Turquoise colored chakra envelops around her hands and makes contact with Naruto's wounds.

"Agh...!" Naruto grunts, feeling the stinging sensation of the medical chakra. Ino winces.

"Sorry...I forgot to tell you that'll sting." she tells him as Naruto's tense body then starts to relax.

"Ah... It's soothing now." he says with a relieved smile. Ino smiles as well.

"Eh. It's not really soothing, but it's numbing the pain. I'm still not as good in medicinal chakra like Tsunade-sama, or Sakura. But, it should speed up the healing process and relieve the pain regardless. And it should stop, if not, slow down the bleeding, too." she says. She then stops the medical chakra and tells Naruto to sit up to see if he feels better.

"Yeah, that's a lot better." he sighs satisfactorily, sitting up and stretching his limbs. he then looks at her with a cheeky smile. "Thank you, Ino-chan."

She smiles and shakes her head, "No. Thank you for saving my life. This is the least I can do for you." she says sincerely. Naruto smiles sheepishly and stands up, groaning as he stretches and cracks certain bones. It was then that Ino noticed that Naruto had an impressive body, once she looked at his muscular abs, shoulders, back, and arms. Even with the wounds on it.

_"He even has a V-cut..."_ she found herself mumbling in her head. He was no bodybuilder, but his torso was lean, slim, and nicely chiseled. Something Ino found no complaints about...

It was then that she broke out of her thoughts, and found him glimpsing at her chest. Ino would have scolded him for it, but it was just a small glance, and he immediately looked away like a gentleman.

"Um...Is there any reason why I'm still only in my bra?" she asks with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Naruto looks at her with a blush and rubs the back of his head.

"Hehehe... Uh, I was afraid that you would wake up in the middle of me dressing you, and I didn't want to get slapped..." he said honestly. Ino laughed.

"No, I'm just kidding, you did the right thing." she says sweetly. "But I'm going to go take a shower." she adds, standing up to stretch her limbs as well. Naruto raises an eyebrow.

"A shower? When there's thousands of zombies walking around here?"

"You have a barrier jutsu up, right?" Naruto nods his head. "Alright then. We're safe in here, and I'm not gonna lay around in my own stink just because zombies are outside." she dismisses, heading for her bathroom. Naruto shakes his head with a chuckle.

"Heh. Women." he mumbles once Ino closes the bathroom door. He then lays down on Ino's bed and gets caught up in it's comfort. "Hey, Ino-chan. Do you mind if I take a nap?" he asks, raising his voice so she could hear him through the door.

"No, not at all! Make yourself at home." she replies, in the middle of taking her bra off. Once she manages to maneuver it around to get it off, she unbuttons her skirt and shakes her hips to let it slide down her legs while she lets her hair free from it's long ponytail. She then hooks her thumb in the sides of her panties and slides them off. She then looks in her bathroom mirror while she's nude and smiles, something she found herself doing since she was little. She then turns on her shower to the appropriate temperature, then hops in, letting soothing hot water relax her muscles.

_"Oh God... I needed this for so long. Two days without a shower is torture..." _Ino moans in her head.

* * *

><p>After she's done washing herself, Ino hops out the steamy shower and wraps a towel around her breaststorso. She exits out the bathroom and jumps when she sees Naruto open eyes staring at her.

"I thought you were taking a nap..." she says, slowing down her heart rate. Naruto shrugs.

"I still can't go to sleep without having nightmares." He admits. Ino frowns and walks over to him, ignoring the fact that she's wearing nothing but a towel.

"There's this other technique that my dad taught me that can sooth the mind and help it relax while you rest." She says.

"Does it involve kissing me again?" Naruto asks slyly. Ino rolls her eyes, but smirks.

"No. And shut up." she replies, no sting apparent in her tone of voice. She then sits down on the edge of her bed and rubs each side of his head with her hands and concentrates. "Now, whatever fears or things you may be scared of when you close your eyes, I'll need you to think about them right now." she tells him.

"Okay..." Naruto replies, closing his eyes as well. He then thinks of all his fears and past bad experiences. The villagers who tortured him in the past. The Kyuubi and how he hurt his friends with it's power, losing control. The fact that him and Ino may be the only ones alive right now, with everybody he cares about being dead. The fact that he promised to Sakura and Tsunade that he'll protect them, yet, they died in front of his own eyes. And worst of all, the memory of having to kill Sakura and Tsunade himself when they turned into mutant, undead zombies. How he had to ram a Rasengan through their hearts-

"I'm sorry, Ino." Naruto says with a saddened face. "I-I just can't... it's too much."

Ino looks at him and shows a look of sympathy "I know Naruto, but you have to do it. I've already looked at some of the things you thought about already. You've been through a lot. Do you know how many people would just give up on life after going through just half of the things you been through?" Ino says. "You're really strong for that. But you'll have to think back to those memories so I can cleanse them. You'll need all the chakra you can get by resting, and you'll die out there if you fight without rest or chakra. Even with the Kyuubi's healing powers." Ino tells him encouragingly, caressing his face. Naruto sighs and closes his eyes. Ino does the same and goes back to the act of trying to cleanse out Naruto's memory. Ino frowns at the amount of bad experiences he had.

_"I didn't think that any single human being can go through as much shit as Naruto did. He doesn't even look or act like he's been through a lot... That is true strength, and I envy Naruto for having it."_

"How do you feel?" Ino asks once the process was complete. Naruto opens his eyes and stares at her for a moment.

She gasps when he quickly leans his head forward and kisses her. She tries to fight against it, but her eyelids lower and allows Naruto's lips massage her own, mimicking his lip motions.

The couple then finds themselves lying on the bed, with Ino lying on her back, Naruto on top of her. Ino's hands were on his back, encouraging him, and his hands were beside each side of Ino's head on the bed, using them for support. Ino's body was still a little damp from the shower she just took, and her long platinum blonde hair was free and wild, spread out all over the bed.

Naruto then moves his head away from Ino's, their faces not even and inch apart. Both of their blue eyes met each other's as they shared the same red blush on their cheeks.

"...Sorry..." Naruto apologized. "I um... I don't know what came over me. I-"

Ino grins and puts a finger over his lips. "Shh... Don't ruin the moment." She than pulls his head closer to hers, their lips meeting again. Ino splits her lips a little and sticks her tongue through, prodding against Naruto's lips to seek entry. Naruto couldn't retaliate against it. Electricity sparked between the two once their tongues met, and both shared a moan once the kiss got more heated.

"I think we should stop..." Naruto mumbles, breaking the kiss. "I'm still a virgin..." he admits. Ino grins.

"So am I." she replies. "You're actually the first guy that I've gotten this far with."

Naruto raises an eyebrow.

"Shikamaru...?"

Ino looks at him as if he went insane, "Ew, Shikamaru was one of my best friends; he's like a brother to me. Besides, he was with Temari, and he's too lazy for my tastes." she says with a smile.

"Oh... Well, Sai...?"

Ino laughs, "Sai was a little minor crush, something less than what Sasuke was. And we never even been on a date before."

Naruto smirks, "Neither have we."

The Yamanaka mocks shocked disappointment, "Naruto Uzumaki, exactly what are you implying?" she asks with a playful smirk. Naruto chuckles.

"That we're both a little provocative for going to third base with people we never went on a date with before. Especially since I'm shirtless and you're in nothing but a towel...er, that just slipped off..." Naruto mumbles the last part with a blush, seeing that the pink towel Ino had around her torso undid itself, exposing her breasts. Naruto looks away and Ino gasps and covers her breasts with her arms, her face resembling a tomato at this point. Her blush soon fades and she brings her arms to her side, and gently grabs Naruto's chin, pushing it back so that he can look back at her.

"It's okay, you can look. You were bound to see them eventually." she says with a sly grin. Naruto blushes even more.

"Wh-What makes you say that...?" he asks, stumbling over his words. Ino's eyelids lower and she leans forward until her lips are lined up with his ear.

"Because you're going to be my boyfriend..." she whispers huskily. She then kisses him again and throws Naruto over so that she's on top. Naruto moans when he feels Ino's soft breasts rubbing against his pecks, his tongue wrestling with hers.

"And what if I declined that offer?" Naruto asks with a grin once they stop to catch their breath. Ino smirks with him.

"It wasn't an offer." she jokes. "I want to hold a special place in your heart, and I don't want to wait any longer in case we die out there. Only if that's okay with you, if you don't, I understand."

Naruto kisses her, "That's perfectly fine with me. That makes you my first real girlfriend."

Ino giggles then looks a him lustily, "I wanna be your first when it comes to something else, too..." she adds slyly. "But, not now. You're going to have to wait. Besides you need to get some rest." she tells him. Naruto nods his head and holds his new girlfriend in his arms as he begins to drift off to sleep.

"It feels so good to close my eyes now..." is the last thing he says before drifting into his subconscious.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Flashback<em>**

"You wanted to see us, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asks the blonde-haired leader once he and Shikamaru shunshin into her office. As Kakashi looks around, he can see most of the council members were in here as well; Tsume Inuzuka, Inoichi Yamanaka, Choza Akimichi, and Shikamaru's dad, Shikaku Nara accompanied them in the office too, along with Shizune of course.

Tsunade looks up at the two who just recently entered her office, "Yes I have, thanks for coming as soon as you could." she tells them. Shikamaru looks around the room and raises an eyebrow.

"Hey, is this some kind of emergency meeting or something? 'Cause we do have a conference room." he says, scratching his head. The Godiame nods her head.

"Yes, this is an emergency meeting. And since I don't know how much time we have left, I'll get right to it." Tsunade then takes a deep breath. "As you all are aware, Sasuke killed Orochimaru and absorbed his powers for himself, correct?"

Everyone in the room nodded.

"Well, it seems that Kabuto has been doing quite a bit of experimenting in his absence, but something went wrong in his lab, and it created a massive explosion."

Tsunade looked at everyone's faces and she could tell that they wanted her to continue.

"As a result of the explosion, it seems that the chemicals in his lab exploded as well, and due to the explosion, the hundreds off chemicals in there is spreading into the atmosphere and is reacting to anything or anyone within a 50 mile radius of the lab." she said. Shikamaru raised his hand. "Yes, Shikamaru?"

The Nara cleared his throat, "Exactly where was Kabuto's lab when all of this occurred?" he asked.

"Somewhere in Kirigakure, I believe." she answered.

"Hm, that's not too far from here..." Inoichi commented and everyone agreed.

"Exactly what happens to the people that get exposed to those chemicals in the atmosphere?" Tsume asked.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Naruto. Which do you think will look better on me? This blouse, or this blouse?" Sakura asked Naruto, while holding two different blouses in each of her hands. Naruto was sitting bored on one of the benches in the store, resting his chin in palm.<p>

"I don't care!" Naruto bursts, clearly miserable. Sakura gave him a deadly stare that froze him in place.

"Watch it, baka. You're on thin ice right now." she said, walking up to him. Naruto gulped.

"I-I meant that you would look amazing in both blouses, so it doesn't really matter to me...!" he quickly defended. Sakura gave him a sweet, cheeky smile.

"Aw, you're such a sweetheart, Naruto-kun!" she then leans over and gives him a peck on the cheek. Ino smirks.

"Ah, it's okay Naruto, I know what you really wanted to say. He was saying that both of those blouses are too good for you, Forehead. And that you should stop wasting your time and give me those blouses because he thinks I would look so much better in them." she says with a grin. Sakura glares at her.

"Shut up, Pig. Naruto clearly thinks I'd look better in them, right Naruto-kun?" Sakura asks her teammate and both girls look at him to see what he was going to say. Naruto looks around and raises an eyebrow.

"Um, I don't know why you guys like shopping so much anyway... I mean, you two wear the same outfits every single day, so whats the point?"

Everything got quiet.

"Aha, told you he said I'd look better in them, Pig!" Sakura gloated. Naruto shook his head and put his face in both of his hands.

_"Women are fucking crazy."_

Suddenly, the three shinobi all heard screams coming from outside the store. Each of them looked at each other, silently agreeing to check out what was happening. They rushed out the store and were welcomed to see a huge crowd of civilians running away from the gates of Konoha. They looked towards the gate and could see one familiar shinobi having a feast on one of the unlucky civilians.

"Oh my God, that's Kotestu! What the fuck is he doing...?" Naruto asked.**_  
><em>**


	3. Chapter Three: Impulse

It's been a whole day since Naruto and Ino barricaded themselves in the Yamanaka residence/flower was morning, and Ino was currently cooking eggs and bacon, while there were waffles in the toaster on the counter behind her. There was still power and running water throughout Konoha, seeing as the mutant invasion began its effect only nearly three or so days ago. It was a great thing to have, but Ino knew that it shouldn't last much longer; maybe about a few weeks or so. A month if they're lucky.

The Yamanaka mind manipulator sighed happily as she inhaled the awesome aroma of the classic eggs and bacon. Even though Ino used to be on a diet and didn't eat much, she was a great cook. Looking back on it, Ino found that her being on a diet was one of the stupidest things she's ever done. She was already a kunoichi, so with her training and exercising, traveling long distances for missions, fighting, and just being a teenager overall, her metabolism would already be in high gear, and she'd stay thin no matter how much she ate. Ino laughed to herself upon remembering all the times Shikamaru tried to tell her this, but she was too caught up on her looks to even listen to him. Even she had to admit that she'd never seen an overweight shinobi or kunoichi, aside from the Akimichi clan. Hell, she knew that Anko could eat up a storm and rival Naruto's appetite, and Anko still had a killer body. If anything, Anko's body looked even better than Ino's, since Anko had more meat on her bones in all the right places.

But Ino was going to change that now. Not only was being on a diet just a waste of time for a kunoichi, but it put an impact on her overall health. Since she was lacking nutrients that she'd obtain from eating, she'd usually feel run down, tired, and would greatly affect her stamina. Eating played a major role in having healthy chakra coils and reserves, which was why Ino's reserves were lower than average, and Naruto had the reserves of five average shinobi, even without the Kyuubi. And if she was going to be of any assistance to Naruto, she would need to step her game up.

Now, she was currently wearing nothing but her underwear and a cooking apron. Since there was no one else in the house, maybe even in the whole world, besides them, Ino didn't feel it was necessary to get completely dressed. Naruto was Ino's boyfriend now, anyway. Naruto himself was still sleeping, and Ino couldn't blame him. After being restless for three days straight, and having to fight God knows how many zombies all the while, Ino wouldn't be surprised if he slept the whole day. Even while Ino was resting while they were in the Hokage tower, Naruto stayed awake for those two days and watched over her protectively. Ino had to stop herself from giving herself a smack on the face from _recently_ realizing just how special Naruto really was.

_"If there were more people like him, this world would be a completely better place..." _Ino thought to herself while putting just a tad more seasoning onto the scrambled eggs she was cooking.

Ino yelped and jumped when, suddenly, she felt two hands take a handful of her shapely butt cheeks.

"Morning, Ino-hime..." she heard a familiar voice whisper into her ear, feeling a bare chest rub against her bare back.

Ino grinned and leaned back into the body behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, "Good morning, Naruto-kun." she replied. She then gave him an even better greeting by turning her head to the side and pulling Naruto's face toward hers, capturing his lips in hers. Naruto's hands ran across Ino's body expertly as the kiss progressed. Ino's butt was spooning into Naruto's groin, and she could feel _him_ rubbing against her posterior.

It took a lot of Ino's willpower to stop things before it progressed too far.

"Naruto-kun, I thought you were going to rest a bit more before waking up." Ino said, turning around in his arms to meet his blue eyes with her own. "You've only been asleep for about seven hours, when you've been without sleep for two days." Ino told him, concern in her voice evident.

Naruto smiled and shrugged, "Well, I have most of my energy back anyway. And I woke up to the smell of something delicious when I haven't had a proper meal in two days." he told her. Ino couldn't argue with him on that.

"Well, breakfast should be done really soon. And I made a lot, since I know of your big appetite." she teased with a grin.

"Smart girl." Naruto said, grinning as well. "After we're done eating do you want to accompany me in a shower, then search your family's secret tools and techniques?" he proposed.

"Well, those tools and techniques are for the head members of the Yamanaka clan only..." she said, causing Naruto to frown. She then smiled. "But since we're probably the only one's left in this world, I'm pretty sure that no one will mind if we take a look." Naruto smiled. "And as for your shower proposal, I wouldn't mind taking a shower with a cutie such as yourself..."

"Good..." Naruto replied, taking Ino's butt into his hands again, kneading the pieces of flesh lovingly. Ino purred and held back a moan. She did moan and jump when Naruto's finger traveled a bit too low and brushed against Ino's womanhood through her panties. She then slapped his chest playfully and wagged a finger in front of his face.

"Bad Naruto. You're not supposed to touch me there yet." she scolded playfully. Naruto smiled and put on an innocent face.

"Hehe, sorry. It's not like you didn't like it anyway." Naruto teased. Ino rolled her eyes and pushed Naruto off her.

"Pervert." she said flatly, but with no sting in her tone of voice. "No more touching 'till I say so. You get me worked up too easily..." she said, turning around to tend to the breakfast, which was now ready. She grinned when she heard the toaster behind her pop the waffles up.

"Saved by the bell." Naruto told her, making Ino roll her eyes playfully.

* * *

><p>"Ah... That was a great shower." Naruto groaned happily, stretching his limbs as he wiped himself dry with a towel. Ino was doing the same, but was also looking in the bathroom mirror brushing her teeth. During there shower, Ino was torturing Naruto with her mini self-issued, no-physical-contact restraining order. He got a good look at everything that Ino had to offer, and the soap and water running down her body made it all the more tempting to ignore Ino's orders...<p>

The other blonde however, liked the view she got of Naruto's body as well. She saw his 'little buddy', and having that being the first one she saw, she wasn't sure if Naruto was big or small in that category...

_"It damn sure doesn't seem very small, though..."_ she thought.

Soon, both were dressed and walked to the underground cavern under the Yamanaka residence where their hidden forbidden and bloodline-accessible jutsu scrolls and techniques were held. It was located under the house/shop, where the couple had to walk down a big flight of steps into a basement-like room, where there was a big metal vault across the room.

"That's a big door." Naruto commented, looking at the huge metal vault door.

"Most of the Yamanaka's best techniques are in there. So we gotta make sure that they're safe." Ino says. She then forms seven different hand seals and presses her hand on the door with her eyes closed. "There are four different barrier techniques that I have to unlock to just get inside this thing." she says once the first barrier was down. She then goes through another eight hand seals and places her hand on the door again.

"Only four seals?" Naruto says sarcastically with a grin.

"Well, there's actually a seal for every little box that the scroll is in. And then there's another seal for _that_ specific scroll after you unlock the box." she tells him. She couldn't see the shocked look on his face due to her concentration on unlocking the barriers. "And lets not forget that if I even mess up one hand seal for this unlocking process, the door to this room will lock and the heavy metal ceiling with poisoned spikes above us will simply drop on our heads."

Naruto looked up, and saw that there were indeed huge, sharp, metal spikes on the ceiling. He gulped, "S-Seriously...?"

Ino nodded nonchalantly, "Yep. And I'm on a time limit. Same thing happens if I don't get these four seals down in the next minute, too."

Naruto looked nervous, "Well, doesn't that mean you should really be concentrating and hurrying up with those hand seals...?" he asks in a precautionary tone.

Ino shrugs, on her last barrier, "Eh, not really. I was taught and trained how to get past this door in record time and with no slip ups. You could pretty much do this with your eyes closed if you practiced this process more than three hundred times over the years." she tells him. She then takes her hand off the door and turns the handle, opening the door to a small room with hundreds of compartments on the walls.

"Wait, I thought you said that only the top members and representatives of the Yamanaka clan?" Naruto asks.

Ino looks at him, "Hello? I'm the clan heads daughter?" she says teasingly. "I'm basically a princess." she smiles cutely.

Naruto grins, "I have no doubts about that..." he says, hugging her in his arms.

"Kiss ass." she says playfully, pecking him on the lips. They then separate and enter the room.

The room looks bigger once you enter it, Naruto realizes. The room was wider than it looked on the outside, and-

"AAH!"

Naruto's head snapped so fast towards Ino, he almost caught whiplash.

"What's wron- Oh, my God..." he whispers, looking at the thing, or rather, person that had Ino frozen in place.

"M... M-Mom..."

Naruto, not knowing what to do or say, simply gathered Ino into his arms while she began to sob into his chest. Naruto sighed, he knew Ino took a hard hit upon looking at the dead corpse in the corner of the room. Especially considering who it was.

Naruto shakes his head when he looks at the platinum blonde hair that resembled Ino's.

_"Ino looks just like her... She was so beautiful."_ Naruto thought to himself.

If Naruto and Ino weren't full-pledged shinobi, they never would have been aware of the incoming attack from said corpse.

They both separated on reflex and looked at the zombie that was between them, Ino being more towards the entrance of the vault while Naruto was closer to the end of the room. Ino's living/dead mother, Zafina Yamanaka, hissed as she spotted new prey. Her previous sky blue irises are now white and lifeless. Her beautiful blonde hair is now messy and wild. Her usual peach-colored, healthy skin was now pail and sickly looking. But other than that, there were hardly any real exterior changes from when she was full healthy and alive.

Neither Ino nor Naruto knew what to say; they were shocked. But shinobi and kunoichi must learn to overcome any emotions when they're in danger.

Seeing that Naruto was the one that had nowhere else to go, Zafina charged straight toward the spiky-haired blonde and went to swipe him with her sharp claws. Naruto managed to dodge her attack by moving back. It was a foolish move, he realized, seeing as he was now forced against the wall. Zafina immediately took advantage of this and went for another strike, which Naruto barely dodged as well. Naruto was occupied with trying not to get clawed to death by Ino's mother, while Ino stood there, still in absolute shock. She wanted to help Naruto, she really did. But it was her _mother_... she was the one that brought her into this world, and-

"Ino-chan, a little help would be appreciated...!" she hears Naruto mumble to her, holding both of Zafina's wrists to hold her back. Ino snapped out of it and charged at Zafina, giving her a strike that knocked her back and gave Naruto some space. Naruto and Ino were now side by side on one part of the vault room, while Zafina was recovering from the strike from Ino on the other side of the room. Thinking fast, Naruto summoned a clone and started to form a Rasengan. Ino's mother, who was now irritated, hissed and ran at the couple again. Naruto finished his Rasengan and ran after her with it in his right hand. But after Naruto let out his battle cry-

"Naruto, no!"

Naruto then feels his arm holding the spiraling ball of chakra being held back, and due to the shock of the moment, Naruto had no time to prepare himself from Zafina's teeth digging themselves into Naruto's arm.

"Agh!" Naruto yelped. Ino, shocked at her own actions, loosened up her grip on Naruto's other arm just as he looked back and yanked it from her grip, delivering a quick jab in the face to Zafina to get her off of his arm. Naruto gave her a quick glare, as if to say 'What the hell were you doing?', then immediately gave his attention to the infected blonde, who recovered from Naruto's jab.

Ino was simply shocked at her actions. She just stopped Naruto's attack, and risked his life... for what? To save her mom, who wasn't exactly being so motherly at the moment? She doesn't know what came over her, but for a quick moment, she thought that her mother, her real mother, was in danger and acted on impulse...

_"But... that's NOT my real mother... at least not anymore..."_

She then looked at the wall where Naruto's blood was splattered and shook her head, "I'm sorry, Naruto..."

"You can stop being sorry and help me out here!" Naruto shouted at her. He was now lying on his back, on the floor with Zafina on top of him. Naruto was barely stopping Zafina from taking anymore bites out of him and trying his hardest not to get bitten again. Her drool occasionally slipped from her mouth and onto Naruto's face, slightly distracting his effort to keep Zafina at bay.

Ino, after being snapped out of her daze, immediately took out a kunai from her holster and cocked her hand back to get ready to throw it.

"Hey, mom!" she shouted. The noise attracted Zafina's attention and her pale white eyes locked up on her daughter. "Catch."

Ino threw the kunai as hard as she could. It hit right in the center of Zafina's fore head and out through the other side. Blood stained Naruto's face and shirt, and he winced as he tossed Zafina's now limp, lifeless body off of him. Ino immediately ran toward Naruto and hugged him close.

"I'm sorry..." she whimpered as she began to tear up. Naruto wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes.

"Its okay, I forgive you, Ino-chan."


	4. Chapter Four: The Master Plan

"I'm sorry."

"Ino-chan, it's okay. I-"

"I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not. Can you please-"

"I can't believe I did something so stu-"

Ino was interupted by Naruto's lips pressing against her own.

Naruto pulled back and smiled at her warmly, "Ino-chan, its okay, I promise. Its nothing to beat yourself up over. I'm okay, really."

"But I'm so fucking stupid!" Ino exclaimed, holding her face into her hands. "What if you didn't have the Kyuubi's powers and you started turning into one of them? Then what? You'd end up just like my mother, and I'd probably be dead, too. All because I couldn't control my actio-"

Ino was interupted by Naruto's lips again.

"But that's the thing, I do have the Kyuubi's powers and I'm not turning into one of them. Its okay, just a little slip up. Besides, I say I forgive you each time you bring it up, and you're already making it up to me by healing me." He tells her, caressing her face. "Stop beating yourself up over it. It's okay, Ino-chan. I promise."

"... Are you sure?" She asked, peeping her face out of her palms to look at him.

Naruto chuckles, "Hehe, yes, I promise. I've said it like twenty times already."

Ino kisses him.

"You, Naruto Uzumaki, are such an amazing person." She tells him.

Naruto smiles and shrugs, "Eh, I try."

* * *

><p>Around three weeks have passed since they've stationed themselves in the Yamanaka residenceflower shop. Ino had managed to learn a new jutsu/technique or two from the vault that the scrolls were held in, and Naruto is close to getting one of the more basic ones that wasn't a clan-only technique. But soon, they found that it was time to leave out of there. Almost all of their food was gone, and they knew that the water and electricity may shut off soon. The problem was, however, they didn't know where else to go, or how they may survive much longer.

Naruto, while helping the storage of important items in a storage scroll, looked at Ino, "We need to talk."

Ino sighed, "I know." She looked at him, "We gotta leave I know, even if we don't know where we're going. What do you think we should do? We can't keep living like this for long." She says sadly.

Naruto looks down, frowning. "I don't know. I know we can't keep living like this. As much as I hate to say it, but at this rate, these zombie people will have us cornered eventually."

"That's just it. Do you think we can do anything to fix this? Or do we have no other choice but to fight for our lives until we die or become one of them?" Ino asks. Naruto could tell that this was stressing Ino out as well.

"Maybe we can try to kill them all and permanently get rid of this disease? Then try to, I don't know, repopulate the human race?"

Ino sent him a flat look, "Now really isn't the time to be joking around and thinking about sex, Naruto."

The spiky-haired shinobi shook his head, "I'm not trying to sound perverted, I'm being very serious!" He defended, "Think about it for a minute. Would you rather just continue just defending, until we both die? Or would rather take the offensive, and fight back? Maybe rid Konoha, maybe the world of this essence or whatever, and get our home back, never having to worry about this again?"

Ino thought for a minute, "Naruto, as great as that sounds, that sounds very difficult, almost impossible to accomplish." She told him carefully. "Taking the offensive sounds a lot more risky than staying defensive. I mean, we can barely take on one of them together..."

Naruto smiles, "But that's the thing, I'm not saying that we should take on the world right now. We'll train. We'll train our asses off. Then when the time is right, we'll come out of hiding and kick some serious ass!" He was getting excited at the thought. "And who knows, we may not be the only ones alive here. Maybe if we find people and get them together as well, it'll make the plan that much better!"

"Naruto..." Ino sighs. "You make it sound so easy, when it's really not..."

Naruto's smile drops a bit, "I'm not saying it'll be easy. It'll be very difficult, in fact. But I believe in this goal. I believe in us." He says warmly, looking Ino right in the eyes. Ino looks at him and smiles, glad at the fact that he's so confident about all this.

"You make me feel so safe, Naruto-kun." She tells him. "But... Where should we go now? We can't stay here much longer, and I know that the barrier jutsu is starting to give away."

Naruto thinks for a minute. "I'm not really sure... I haven't really thought of the right place we could go yet."

Ino couldn't blame him for that. She didn't know where to go either.

After a few minutes of thinking, Naruto speaks up, "We can go to the Hyuuga compound. I've heard that they have a lot of space there. And the Hyuuga Mansion is huge and can offer plenty of protection."

She smiled, "Not a bad idea, Naruto-kun." She then frowned a bit. "The only trouble is making our way there. I mean, the Hyuuga compound isn't really close to where we are. Not to mention the fact that we have to make sure none of the infected are in the Mansion before we settle in there."

"Why must you always think of the negative?" Naruto said with a smile. "You got me, and I got you. That's all we need, because we have each other." He kissed her gently. "And besides, one of those techniques that you learned is actually effective against the undead, so that's good too."

Ino smiled a little, "I guess you're right." She told him before taking a hold of her storage scroll. "I'm ready to leave when you are."

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for the infested to find the blonde pair.<p>

"Shit." Naruto cursed, looking across the street at three of the undead who looked very hungry. Ino and Naruto were ready to fight, however, and felt as if they had the advantage.

One of them, a deceased genin, around Konohamaru's age, charged at them at a inhumane speed. Naruto knew he had no time to perform a jutsu, and simply readied himself to dodge or block the attack.

Another one, who looked like an old citizen of Konoha, with white hair and wrinkly, dead-looking skin joined in. Infected citizens were usually a lot weaker than the shinobi, since they've never had any previous physical training, but they still posed a threat.

And the last one, a huge, impossibly muscular man, who clearly was a shinobi, evident by his Konoha hitai-ate, had his eyes set on Ino. He was practically three times her overall size. His shirt was missing and the rest of his clothes were torn up quite a bit. He was bald and had a few pieces of his scalp and skull missing, revealing blood and rotting parts of his brain. Skin from the right side of his face was no long their either, and Ino was disturbed that she could clearly see his jaw bone, cheek bone, etc without anything overlapping it. One other noticeable feature from this creature of the damned was that he had a very long and big pole piercing through his gut.

As the animistic zombie rushed to Ino, Naruto had already dispatched the infected old woman with a shadow clone. The small, undead genin was the remaining one giving him trouble.

"Damn, why do I get the big guy...?" Ino thought nervously to herself. The large man jumped approximately 10 feet in the air while running, cocked his fist back, and prepared to crush her with his massive fist. Ino managed to see it coming and took a large leap back, just missing the impact. The infected man's fist cratered into the earth, the explosion of rock and dust flying everywhere within a short radius. Ino saw her chance to attack and quickly threw a kunai at his head.

Bull's eye.

Ino started to grin when she realized that she hit her target, but frowned as the creature seemed undeterred by the weapon, as it stayed deeply lodged in his forehead. He pulled his fist out of the ground and raised both of his hands.

With a loud explosion-like sound, he struck the earth again with both of his fists as hard as he could. The ground within that area of Konoha shook violently. Naruto had lost the chance to slam a Rasengan into the genin zombie's face, due to the loss of balance as this happened. Ino lost her center of gravity and fell flat on her butt. The giant diseased man saw his chance and charged to attack. Ino saw this and locked her fingers in the same fashion she would when performing her mind transfer technique.

"Nendō no seigyo no Jutsu!" She exclaimed. Suddenly, the monster halted all actions. His face showed a struggle, as if trying to move. Ino held her pose and showed signs of a struggle as well. She got up on her feet, keeping her hand sign pointed at him. Ino then released the jutsu and the monster restarted his charge toward the young chuunin. Now having a chance to prepare herself, Ino jumped up and landed on top of it's head. Catching his skull between her feet, Ino performed a sharp pivot of her body, snapping the zombie's neck into a 180 degree rotation just as he stopped running. Ino jumped off and now saw that it's back and face were on the same side.

The thing was still seemingly unharmed by this.

He simply took his head in his hands and snapped it back into the right place, then turned around and stared angrily at Ino.

Ino was shocked,_ "Th-That move should have killed him... Or at least made him unconscious..."_

The creature then picked up a large cement block that looked like it came off of a piece of a shattered building above his head. But before he had a chance to throw it at Ino, Naruto miraculously drove a Rasengan through his arm from behind, tearing the limb off and forcing the freak of nature to drop the cement block. Blood oozed and squirted out of the area where his arm should be connected. The monster, now even more pissed off, looked back at Naruto and quickly gave him his massive backhand to the face just as he landed, sending him flying into a pile of bricks and rubble.

"Naruto!" Ino shouted, seeing as his body disappeared under the rubble. The monster, with a loud guttural yell ran at her at an impressive speed (especially for someone his size) and gathered her body in his one remaining hand, squeezing the life out of her. Ino coughed up blood and tried as hard as she could to get free, although it was futile. As he started squeezing harder, Ino began dawning on the realization that she was about to die. Especially since she heard and felt her bones crunching.

But suddenly, the squeezing stopped.

Ino grunted as her body hit the ground, and held her broken ribs. She strainfully looked up and saw the monster pull the street light-sized pole out of its gut.

It then swung the object at his own head with massive strength, beheading him. His head landed a few yards away.

Blood sprayed like a fountain as it rained upon Ino's skin and clothes. She saw the obese headless body start to fall, and it was gonna land right on top of her. She hastily rolled to the side and narrowly avoided getting squished, despite her ruptured bones.

She was confused that the monster had attacked and killed itself, but was happy that she got to live. She sighed in relief, but found it painful to do so.

"Ino, are you alright?"

Looking to the side, Ino saw someone running toward her that she thought she'd never see again.

"Sh... Shikamaru...?"

There he was. Ino would recognize the pineapple-headed boy anywhere. She saw the small scratches on his face and the rips and tears in his clothing, but he seemed fine otherwise.

As the Nara caught up to his damaged teammate, he knelled beside her and grinned.

"You always manage to get yourself into trouble. Troublesome female." Ino was happy to hear the sound of his voice. She smiled weakly.

"And you always end up saving me." She says. "I'm so-" Ino coughs up a bit more blood. "-happy to see you, Shika. I thought you were dead..."

"Like everyone else? I thought I was the last survivor, too." He tells her. He then pulls out a needle from one of his vest pockets. "Hold out your arm."

"What is that..?" Ino questions, hesitantly extending her arm.

Shikamaru spots one of her veins and injects the substance, "Its a concoction that I managed to put together. It'll make you invisible to the infected."

"Invisible?" Ino repeated. "How?"

Shikamaru finished injecting the substance and took the needle out of her arm, wrapping a bandage around the tiny wound. "I'll explain in a bit, but I think I should help Naruto out too. Just sit tight here for a while." He tells her before walking over to the pile of brick that covered the Jinchuuriki. Shikamaru managed to throw all of the rubble off of him. Naruto was unconscious. He had a major gash on the back of his head, and quite a few cuts and bruises everywhere. Shika knew that he got banged up good, and was losing a lot of blood. He wrapped a bandage all around Naruto's head and injected the mysterious substance into his bloodstream with another needle. He threw Naruto's arm around his shoulder and dragged him until they were beside Ino, who was now sitting up and used medical ninjutsu to heal herself.

I saw you guys fighting from far away and decided to help out. If I could have helped out sooner, I would have." Shikamaru says to Ino. Ino just barely managed to get herself up onto her feet.

"I'm just glad that you saved us in general." She thanks him. "Is Naruto-kun gonna be okay?" She asks, looking at the lifeless body being held by Shikanaru.

The Nara nods, "He'll be fine if the bleeding from his head slows down correctly."

Ino closes her eyes and quietly thanks Kami for looking over them, "Now that substance... How does it work again?"

"Its this chemical called 'Identiprofin' I came up with. It hides your scent from the infected. Most of them can't see through their eyes, especially since some no longer have eyes, but they can spot you a mile away through the scent of your blood. So it doesn't technically make you invisible as I said before, but it's something like that." He explains. Ino nods. "Identiprofin makes the scent of your blood disappear, making you untraceable by them. Those that do happen to have eyes wont be a threat either, since the infection causes them to lose their eyesight. But they can still hear you. Not as much as the normal human ears are capable of hearing, but still capable nonetheless."

"How do you know all this? Better yet, how are you even alive right now?" Ino asks, very surprised. Shikamaru chuckles.

"I could ask you and Naruto the same question. I've been in hiding until I managed to put together the Identiprofin. I'm not sure how I've managed to survive this long, but hey." He says with a shrug of the shoulders. "And I've been studying and doing small experiments on the infected once I started putting together the Identiprofin. It wasn't easy, but I managed to do it."

"That's... Simply incredible, Shika-kun." Ino says. Shikamaru grins and shrugs modestly. "Naruto-kun and I were just about to head to the Hyuuga estate and settle there until we've used up all our resources. Would you want to come with us? Or do you have another place you can stay?" She asks.

Shikamaru shakes his head, "Nah, I've been walking around town, finding food and stuff while studying the infected at the same time. I've never really settled down in one place, really." He says.

"Well, Naruto-kun and I were about to head to the Hyuuga complex and settle down there Would you wanna join us?"

Shikamaru smiles, "Sounds good."

* * *

><p><em><strong>*Meanwhile, in Naruto's mind-scape...*<strong>_

**"Naruto... Naruto-kun..."**

Naruto could see nothing but darkness, "Who's there?"

A bright light shined down upon him.

Naruto sighed, "Kyuubi, you always have the strangest ways of saying hi."

Another ray of light shined down in front of him, and in it walked a ginger-haired vixen with red irises and fox-like pupils. Her hair was full of curls and had a deep orange color to it. Her face was gorgeous, nothing short of what someone would assume should be in the modeling agency. She shared Naruto's whisker-like marks on her cheeks. She had a killer body, thin and thick in all the right places. Her skin tone was a bit pale, but still glowed. Not as pale as Hinata, but maybe a tone above that. Her fingernails were medium length and red, which matched her current attire. She wore a red kimono that draped loosely around her shoulders, showing a fair amount of cleavage. It ended mid thigh, showing off her succulent legs. An orange sash was tied around her waist, which highlighted her Goddess-like figure.

**"Tehe!"** She giggles,** "Oh Naruto-kun... You should know by now that I'm far from what you humans call normal."**

"Can't argue with that." Naruto grumbled, "Anyway, what do you want? You know I really don't enjoy being around you."

Kyuubi playfully looked hurt, **"Ow, Naruto-kun... Words like those can kill."** She then gave him an evil grin, **"I thought we became close over the years. But I guess all you see me as is a pure evil being that wants to get set free from this hell hole."**

"Because that's exactly what you are." He replied flatly, which Kyuubi nodded with a shrug, as if to agree. "But like I said, what do you want?"

**"Don't ask me, I didn't bring you here. You're the one who fell unconscious."** She shrugged.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "How did I-?"

**"Oh, and I'm really doing you a favor by fighting off this infection for you."** Kyuubi interrupts rudely.

"No, you're technically doing yourself the favor, since you know that if I die, you die too." Naruto says with a roll of his eyes. "And we may not like each other, but we really have to work together if we wanna stay alive."

Kyuubi nods,** "I agree."** Her eyelids lower and she gives him her best seductive look,** "But of course, if you just gave me control and set me free, I could easily-"**

"No." Mumbles Naruto with an annoyed expression. "I'm not giving you control. I may ask for some of your chakra if things get bad enough, but you are not getting set free. But, if I was the last one alive on this planet, then I probably would have thought about it."

Kyuubi grinned and crept closer to Naruto, rubbing her hand up and down his chest,** "So how about you kill your so called girlfriend and let me rid the world of this infection..."**

She saw the look on his face and chuckled.

**"Can't blame me for trying."**

Naruto sighed deeply and pulled Kyuubi's hand off of his chest. He was about to say something before the demon succubus continued. **"You know, there is a chance that you wont die if you undo the seal... And after I kill every zombie-thingy on this planet, I can take on this form and we could repopulate the earth ourselves..."** She says sexily, leaning her head in to kiss him. Naruto stays completely still, and just as her lips are about to touch his, she moves her head to the side a bit and lines her lips up to his ear.

**"I know you want to... I've seen how you've been eying my body up and down... I know you want me..."**

Naruto rolls his eyes and takes a step back away from her, "Fuck off."

Kyuubi's glares at him as her red eyes glow in anger, **"Hmph. You're just like your mother."** She growls. Before Naruto can ask her what she meant by that she continues talking, **"Anyway, I'll continue helping you, but only because I want to live myself."**

"Whatever." Says Naruto.

* * *

><p><em><strong>*In reality*<strong>_

"So that Identi-whatever really does work, huh...?" Ino asks nervously, as the two continue their walk to the Hyuuga compound, with an unconscious Naruto draped over Shikamaru's shoulders. They were walking past dozens, maybe hundreds of the infected. To them, it was as if the three remaining healthy shinobi weren't even there. They continued moaning, groaning, searching, bleeding, and some of them were even fighting and eating each other.

"It's called Identiprofin, and yes, it works wonders. I've been using it for around three weeks now." Shikamaru states. Ino, while walking, accidentally bumps her shoulders into one of them. She jumps when the zombie blindly looks around and starts sniffing the air as a reaction, in search for food. After a few seconds, it just continues walking in it's own direction, not even taking notice to the blonde.

Ino was still a bit skeptical, "Um, Shika? How long will this thing continue to work before it wears off?"

"About an hour."

"And are you sure that you have the necessary ingredients to make more?"

Shikamaru looks at Ino, "Yeah, I can make it with cinnamon, oats, a bit of lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, and a pot to boil it all. And I don't think we'll run out of those supplies any time soon."

Ino nods, "Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions, but I'm just trying to be extra careful."

"That's understandable," says Shikamaru. "But I wouldn't use it, let alone have you use it, if I wasn't positive that it would work." He says with a smile, earning a returning smile from Ino.

The two (three, technically) continued on and eventually reached their destination in uncomfortable silence. They were standing right in front of the large doors of the 'Royal Palace' known as the Hyuuga Estate. There were plenty of undead Hyuuga members lurking about, unaware of the three living humans in their compound.

"The chances are that we'll have to clean that place out fully before we go in there... There must be dozens of the infected in there..." Ino says. Shikamaru nods in agreement.

"At least we wont have to worry about being seen while we kick them out."

"How much time has passed since we've been injected with that stuff?"

Shikamaru checks his watch, "Around 35 minutes. If we do this quick, we might be able to get them all out by the time the Identiprofin wears off."

"But the mansion is huge... It'll probably take longer than 25 minutes to clear them all out."

Shikamaru nods and looks at Ino, "So do you want to take another dosage of it to be sure?"

"Yeah."

Shikamaru slowly laid Naruto down and pulled out three more needles. He handed on to Ino while they both injected themselves with caution. Shikamaru then faced Naruto and held his arm while he slowly pushed the needle into his vein.

"O-Ow..." Naruto mumbles, while wincing his face. Ino and Shikamaru hear him, as he starts stirring a bit. The needle was safely ejected out of his arm before he rose up, barely conscious.

"Damn, my head..." He groans, holding his throbbing dome. He cracks his eyes to see Shikamaru assisting him, with Ino next to him.

"Ugh... S-Shikam..." His words were cut off into a groan when his head throbbed again. Finally seeing clearly, Naruto looked at his old friend. "Shikamaru...? You're alive?" He asked groggily, but incredulously.

Shikamaru grinned, "Heh, yeah, as far as I can tell."

Ino smiled and gave Naruto a tight hug, "I'm so glad you're okay, Naruto-kun."

She pulled back and Naruto smiled back at her, "I'm just glad you're okay, Ino-chan." He then looked around and held his painful, blood-rushed head. "But, why are all the...? And how are you guys...? How did I...? What exactly happened?" All of the questions made his headache hurt so much worse.

Ino and Shikamaru chuckled a bit, "I'll explain everything later." Ino said.

"But long story short, the zombies can't see you, and we need to flush all of them out of there within an hour and a half." Shikamaru states, pointing at the building beside them.

Naruto was completely lost at this point, "Err... Okay, I guess."

"Can you fight, at least?" Shikamaru asks. Naruto nods, half-certain.

"I'm pretty sure I can."

Shikamaru nods, "What about you Ino? You seem pretty banged up still."

Ino shrugged, "I'm fine, for the most part. As long as they're not fighting back, there should be no problems."

"Okay, that's good... So are you guys ready?"

Busting through the mansion's doors, they were met with plenty of infected Hyuuga. The dozens of them that were in the first room 'looked' at the doors that just opened, but they could not sense anyone there. Ino, Shikamaru, and Naruto looked around. The mutant's heads were turned in their direction, but it didn't look like they were spotted.

"Are you sure that they can't see us?" Naruto asks Shikamaru. The pineapple headed boy nods.

"Yeah. But this stuff wears off in an hour and some change, so lets hurry up and do this."

Throwing the infected monsters out of the house was a bit easier than they thought, due to the assistance of the Identiprofin. It was an easy task, but a long one as well, since they had to check every accessible room and corner of the mansion. They checked high and low, far and wide, to make sure that there were no sneak attacks available. The whole process took more than an hour, and they had to hurry and make sure that the place was secure to put a barrier seal up and going before the Identiprofin wore off and the infected would smell them out and find them. The mansion was still practically in ruins on the inside. Blood was everywhere; on the floor in footsteps, on the walls in many different forms, including in the shapes of smeared hand prints, and most other places as well. Killing the undead hadn't made it look any better either. But the three figured that they would have to cope with it, and just get settled into their new temporary home.

"Alright, looks like this is our new home for now." Declares Ino after completing the barrier seal around the mansion.

"I call master bedroom." Naruto says with a smirk. Shikamaru and Ino grin along with him.

"Well, considering how we have around fifty rooms to choose from, I'm sure that choosing rooms between the three of us wont be much of an issue." Shikamaru says playfully.

"Well, I have a feeling that I may be bunking with you in the master's bedroom, Naruto-kun..." Ino says suggestively with a wink. Naruto grinned and chuckled slyly.

Shikamaru had a clue that the two blondes may be involved with each other as more than friends, but he wasn't so sure up until now. He could bring it up now, but simply decided that it was hardly that much of his concern in the first place.

"Wait, now you guys have to explain to me what happened while I was unconscious. I'm still very lost." Says Naruto to both his good friends. Ino and Shikamaru looked at each other through the corner of their eyes before nodding.

"Oh... I see." Naruto says disappointingly. "I got knocked out..."

Ino and Shikamaru put on a concerned frown, "Well... On the bright side, we're all okay! And I think that's all that matters." Says Ino supportfully.

"That's true, but that's not why I'm upset." Naruto says, taking a seat on one of the steps on the grand staircase that was a welcoming sight to see as soon as anyone stepped through the Hyuuga Mansion's front doors.

"Then what's wrong, baby?" Ino sits next to Naruto, who has his face buried in his palms. "We're all okay. And if it wasn't for Shikamaru, we'd both be dead."

"That's just it," exclaims Naruto, staring down at the ground. "If it wasn't for Shikamaru, you'd be dead. Even still, you came out of there with broken ribs. I failed to protect you, Ino-chan, when I made a promise that I'd never let anything happen to you."

Everyone had fallen silent.

"But you didn't let anything happen to me," Ino says after a few seconds of awkward silence, "you protected me with all your might, and jumped to my rescue when you saw that I was in trouble. But you got caught off guard, Naruto-kun; that huge zombie was tough. You're talking as if you let me get injured." She says, petting his sun-kissed hair. Naruto sighed.

"Of course I'd never let you get injured. But a promise is a promise... I was just too weak to live up to it." With that, Naruto got up and headed for the master bedroom that was upstairs.

Ino stood up, saddened by what he just said, "Naruto-kun, wait..." She started to go after him, but an assuring hand was placed atop of her shoulder to stop her.

"Leave him." Shikamaru advised. "He needs time to himself for a while."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, "Yeah. It's a pride thing that some people have. When they make a promise, and think that they failed to live up to it, it really bothers us. But of course in Naruto's case, it may be much more than just pride. You know how he is with promises."

Ino thought sadly for a second before looking at the corner that led to the bedroom Naruto headed off to, "Yeah... I just hope he's okay."

Shikamaru gave her a small smile, "He'll be fine. He just needs some alone time. He has a lot to take in, and I'm sure his headache isn't helping."

Ino looks in the direction Naruto went in, "I hope so."


	5. Chapter Five: Settlement

_***Flashback***_

Tsunade turned to Tsume to answer her question, "That's the thing, we're not one-hundred percent sure. It seems to be a unique type of infection that's highly contagious and greatly alters the human body. It seems to corrupt their mind into attacking anyone that doesn't have the infection. That's the most we know about it at the moment, since this outbreak began recently and we never really had any time to analyze it."

"Well it must be a big threat if you've called us to an emergency meeting." Says Shikaku, rubbing his chin.

"It is. I've never seen the infection for myself, but I've gotten a report from a border patrolling Jounin that the infection is alarmingly close to spreading to Konoha."

Everyone got quiet for a moment.

"So what do you request we do, Hokage-sama?" The Third Hokage's son, Asuma Sorutobi asks.

"I want some of you to go out and investigate. Since this seems to be a hazardous dilemma spreading, I'll rank it as an A-ranked assignment. Shikamaru, Shikaku, Tsume, Kakashi, Choza, and Hiashi, I'm assigning this to you. If you find out anything, immediately come back here and report."

The assigned shinobi all nodded and headed for the door.

Tsunade stopped them before any of them left to say one more thing, "And guys... Be careful."

* * *

><p>Sakura, Ino, and Naruto could only look in awe at what they were seeing.<p>

But now, Kotetsu was viewed as an enemy, and lethal force was now necessary.

Sakura was the first to act, as she threw a chakra-packed punch into the earth, shattering a layer of the earth's crust and sending the shock wave over to the feasting Chuunin. Once the waves met him, he was thrown back a few feet, along with the limp remains of the half-eaten citizen.

Naruto soon reacted as well and summoned five clones. They charged after Kotetsu once he landed and prepared to beat him senseless. Kotetsu recovered quickly and stood up on his feet. Once one of Naruto's clones got withing reach, Kotetsu moved at speeds that normal Chuunin could only dream to achieve.

"What the-?" Was the only thing the original Naruto could utter out before Kotetsu reached him and hit him with with a strike that sent him flying into the glass window of the store behind him. He crashed into everything, from clothes, to metal clothing posts until he hit the wall way in the back of the store. Anyone in the store fled, leaving the shinobi to fulfill their duty.

"Naruto!" Shouted Ino and Sakura. Kotetsu was now between them, and Sakura immediately tried to jab him with everything she had. Kotetsu dodged and came back with an attack of his own. Sakura was too slow to dodge the clawed strike, which gave her three deep gashes along her left cheek. She staggered back, and looked up in time to the sight of a cannibalistic Kotetsu ready to pounce on her.

But in a flash, Kotetsu was sent in a different direction away from her, via Rasengan.

Sakura looked up at a mildly banged up Naruto, that just sent Kotetsu flying into the wall across from him.

"Hey, thanks." Sakura said with a small smile. Her thanks didn't receive a response however, seeing as Naruto's attention was still on Kotetsu, who was still alive and conscious. She followed his gaze and her stare hardened, although she was still very shocked.

Ino, who stayed a safe distance as of not being a close-ranged fighter, felt her heart race. "What the hell is going on here...?"

Naruto and Sakura readied their fighting stances, seeing as Kotetsu seemed ready to strike again.

But suddenly, three kunai was lodged deep into Kotetsu's face and head, vandalizing the wall behind him in blood. With a strained gurgle, Kotetsu fell to his knees, then his stomach. Dead.

The two blondes and pinkette all wondered where the kunai came from.

"I would say something funny regarding me being here in time, but this seems to be kinda serious." They heard the smooth voice from behind them. They turned around to see Kakashi standing on the store's roof.

"Kakashi-sensei, what the hell happened to Kotetsu?" Asked Sakura.

The son of the White Fang replied, "He's been infected with something."

"Infected with what?" Ino asks.

"I'm not entirely sure. But I need you three to come with me to see Tsunade-sama asap."

* * *

><p><em><strong>*End of<strong> **Flashback***_

_**"Naruto-kun... I could lend you power to help you protect your precious girlfriend..."**_

"..."

_**"We both know that you're not strong enough to protect her... You saw it for yourself today. If you just gave me a little bit of control, I can help you."**_

"..."

_**"Is that a yes, or no?**_"

"..."

_**"The silent treatment, huh?"**_ Kyuubi chuckled lowly. **_"Well, if you want me to help you, just say the word. You already know how to reach me."_**

Naruto only laid on the King-sized bed and stared at the ceiling. Despite Kyuubi taunting and trying to persuade him, Naruto was doing some very deep thinking. Most of his thoughts were based upon Ino's injury, and how both of them could have died had Shikamaru not come along. He had to become stronger. He had to, if not for his own sake, it was for Ino's.

Naruto stood for a minute. He thought about his struggles with the infected, and how they never really even taken notice to his shadow clones. Shikamaru told him about how they could track the uninfected out by the scent of their blood... So could that be his trump card against them? Thinking quickly, he summoned ten clones and commanded them out of the room one by one to try and search for food openly without hiding from the contaminated beings.

* * *

><p>Ino, despite Shikamaru's advice, slowly walked down the hallway to the master bedroom to try and see how Naruto is holding up. But before she could reach the door, Naruto had opened the door and stepped in front of her, closing the door behind him.<p>

Ino was mildly startled by his sudden appearance, "Oh, Naruto!" She then looked in his eyes. "Hey listen... can I talk to you for a s-?"

"Oh, I'm not the real Naruto, I'm a clone." He told her. Ino blinked.

"Why is he making clones?"

"He wants to experiment with something... He'll probably tell you once he's ready. But I don't suggest you go in there though, he needs time to himself for a bit." The clone told her carefully.

Ino looked down, saddened. "That's what Shikamaru said too..."

"Yeah, he just needs time to think. He'll talk to you when he's ready. Trust me, I should know." Naruto's clone said with a smile. Ino made a small, unsure smile in response. "And hey," he said. As Ino looked up, the clone held her shoulders and planted a small passionate kiss on her lips.

"You're a great girlfriend, by the way." He said with another smile when he separated. Ino blushed and slowly smiled herself.

"Um... I hope this isn't considered as cheating." She said playfully. The clone grinned goofily and ran past her.

"Hehe, I don't know, but I'm not sure I wanna stick around to find out!" He said while running. Ino giggled softly.

* * *

><p>As Naruto waited patiently inside the chamber, one by one, he'd gain memories of the clones he sent out, showing that they had been destroyed. And telling from their memories, the infected were the one's that destroyed them.<p>

"I don't get it..." Naruto stated, "They still continue to go after the clones... But when I fight with them, they completely ignore them." He then gains the memory of the last clone he summoned.

"Ino-chan... She's worried about me." He says a bit sadly. He then chuckles. "Heh, stupid clone kissed her."

* * *

><p>Ino walked back into the main room of the Hyuuga Estate and looked around. The place was an absolute mess. Blood and body parts everywhere. She sighed. Is she really going to have to live like this? Hiding? Scared? It's not like she had a choice, but still...<p>

To get her mind off of it, she decides to give herself another tour of the house. She traveled and eventually reached the top floor. Going down a hallway that had only one door at the end, Ino raises an eyebrow.

"I don't think we checked this room..." Ino says to herself. She thinks about calling Shikamaru or Naruto over to help her search this room, but believes that she can take on whatever may be lurking in there. She opens the door slowly and peers her head into the room. There's no one in there. She opens the door wider and steps inside. She can see that it was a spacious room, with a futon beside the door, a drawer, a closet on the other side, and a few belongings spread around. As she looks a bit harder, she can see that those things are quite feminine, with nail polish, combs, hair clips, etc.

"Must be a girl's room." She comments, "I wonder if..." She then spots a book on the drawer that looks as if it could be a diary. She walks up to the drawer and picks up the book. Curiosity overrides any conscious decision as she opens-

"I-Ino-san...?"

The sudden sound startles Ino as she whips around immediately. She sees a figure coming out of the closet nearby and her hand darts for the kunai in her pouch. As the figure comes out a little more, she takes the kunai out and cocks her hand back to prepare to throw it, keeping her eyes locked on the moving person. As soon as the figure comes out of the closet, she whipped her arm forward.

"Aah! P-Please, don't!"

Ino halts the movement of her arm, just at the brink of tossing the sharp weapon right at...


	6. Chapter Six: The Broken Girl

_***Flashback***_

"So you mean to tell me that Kotetsu, one of our very own Chuunin, became infected, killed an innocent citizen, and attacked the three of you?" The Hokage asks. The three teens in the room nod.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Replies Kakashi.

"And have you seen anyone else in any similar conditions?"

Kakashi shakes his head, "No, the only one we saw was Kotetsu. Everyone else was either running or helping out the citizens."

"What about the victim that had been attacked by Kotetsu? From the intel I've received so far, it seems that the infection can only be spread if you are bitten."

"I've seen the wounds inflicted upon him, Hokage-sama." Sakura says, "Kotetsu made no attempt to leave him alive. He suffered many fatal and carnal wounds... Like getting mauled by a lion."

"I see." Tsunade mumbles, thinking. "... You guys said that Kotetsu's overall speed, strength, and endurance increased dramatically, correct?"

"Yeah!" Shouted Naruto. He had a scar on the side of his head from the scuffle he got into with said Chuunin, but it was already healing up fast. "I've had Kotetsu chase me around the whole village back when I was a Genin, and he was never as fast as he was a few minutes ago." He says. He then pauses, "I think he might even be faster and stronger than you, Baa-chan..."

Tsunade looks at Naruto with a pondering look, "I'm sure you're exaggerating, Naruto-kun. I don't know any infections that would give anyone Kage-like strength and agility."

"Actually, Hokage-sama..." Sakura speaks up, "I don't think he's exaggerating. Kotetsu's speed and strength... I've only seen anything like it from you, Tsunade-sama." Ino, who was next to Sakura, nods to support her statement.

Tsunade was shocked. She turned to Kakashi, "Kakashi, is this true?"

"I can't say for definite. I only showed up when Naruto attacked him with a Rasengan. It landed and flew Kotetsu back, but he didn't seem completely harmed by it. A launched kunai though the base of his head seemed to dispatch him, however." The Jounin replies, "Besides, you know Naruto, and especially Sakura, wouldn't exaggerate about such a matter, so I believe them."

Tsunade nods, looking at the ground in deep thought. Her nerves were becoming uneasy, "This is frightening..."

"Is there anything you want us to do, Hokage-sama?" Ino asks.

Tsunade was so deep in thought that she almost didn't hear her, "... I have most of the Jounin and ANBU members of Konoha out on the streets, either helping the citizens evacuate to a safety shelter, or finding out if there are anymore infected-"

**_CRASH!_**

Everyone in the Hokage office ducks and shields themselves as glass is thrown everywhere. In the office, landed Anko on her back. She landed atop of the Hokage's desk, destroying it under her weight. Kakashi looks at her, and the big hole in the glass window at the back of the Hokage's office.

"Ugh... Fuck!" Anko groans, squirming on the ground, with the destroyed pieces of the desk she landed on below her. Everyone in the office surrounded her, as Kakashi helped her up.

"Anko! What happened?!" Asked Tsunade.

Anko held her stomach with a pained face and spit out a wad of blood, "Urgh... It's... It's Yugao. She's... She's become one of them."

The five other ninja looked at each other.

"Yugao? How?" Kakashi asked.

"We were helping to gather the citizens and children, we split up, then out of nowhere she attacked me." She says as she dusts herself off, still hunching over and holding her stomach. "I fought her off for a little while, but her speed and strength... That shit was unbelievable. I don't know one Jounin or ANBU member in this village that's that strong." She then looks back at Kakashi. "Sorry to say it, but she has you beat, Kaka-kun."

"And she hit you? She didn't bite you or anything?" Asked Tsunade.

"Well, she tried. But after a bit of fighting her off, she kicked me in the stomach, and well, here I am. That kick sent me flying like a messenger bird. Sorry about your desk, by the way." She tells the leader of the village. "And- Oh, hi, Naruto-kun!" Anko greets happily once she sees Naruto, who was beside her. Naruto waves back awkwardly. "And I'm pretty sure one of my ribs is broken, so Busty-sama, if you could so kindly?"

Tsunade sneers at the nickname, but still moves closer to heal her.

Naruto snickers, "'Busty-sama'... Ah, I gotta remember that one."

"Naruto, this is serious." Tsunade tells him. "I need you to summon Gamatatsu and have him call Jiraiya-"

"No need, I'm already here." The second of the Sannin to enter the office said. He jumped through the same hole that Anko burst through.

Tsunade was already done healing Anko, "Jiraiya, great that you're here. Since you're the one that told me about Kabuto's lab blowing up, can you tell me if there's anything we can do to stop this? Everyone is saying that this infection gives people Kage-like strength and speed."

"Yeah, it does. I've seen it for myself. But I'm afraid that the only thing we can do is filter out everyone that isn't infected, keep them detained and safe, while everyone above Jounin level eliminates everyone with the infection."

"Kill them?" Tsunade exclaims, "Jiraiya, they may be infected, but they are still innocent shinobi and citizens."

"Well, can you think of anything better?"

"Yes, we can try and make an antidote. I'll get people to analyze the infection and try to create something to fix it."

Jiraiya rubbed his forehead, "Tsunade, do you think we have time for that? People are dying, and the people that die come back to life as infected beings. Creating an antidote can take days, weeks, months, or even years, and that's if the infection is even curable."

Tsunade paused, "You never told me that people get brought back to life infected if they die..."

"Yeah, I learned quite a few new things. It also seems that the only way to legitimately kill an infected person is to make sure that there is absolutely no activity from the brain or heart to the body. It doesn't matter what other normally fatal injuries are inflected upon them, they will not die unless their heart or brain is targeted." He informs them. "Also, I'm not sure how, but they have the ability to track wherever any uninfected people are, no matter where you are."

"That's not good." Tsunade says. "I guess you're right, we have no choice but to eliminate any of the infected while we can... But you also said that anyone Jounin level or lower have to hide?"

"Yes." Says Jiraiya. "Normal Jounin don't stand a chance."

"But... That means that-"

"Gifted Jounin such as Kakashi and Guy are the only Jounin that have a chance at defeating them. Even if you summon Katsuyu, summon him onto all of the uninfected shinobi to spread the knowledge and heal them during battle, they still have a chance of getting bit and spreading the virus even more." He says. "And we have to fight too, Tsunade. We can't just sit by and hope for the best."

"I see... Ino," Tsunade turns to the other blonde woman in the room, "Contact your dad and tell him to use his abilities to inform everybody in the village of the intelligence we just learned."

"Hai!" Ino says before closing her eyes to telepathically contact her father. Tsunade turned to the other shinobi in the room. "Sakura, Naruto, and Anko, I need you to go down into the shelter and stay there until further notice."

She got only two nods. Tsunade looked at Naruto and spoke before he could, "I know you want to help out, Naruto. But this isn't the same as fighting the Akatsuki. This is something way worse, and I need you to do as I say."

"... Fine." Naruto said. He started for the door of the office, and opened it. He jumped a bit when someone was already standing in the doorway.

"Oh, Shizune-nee-chan. You scared me." Naruto said. Shizune only looked at him.

"Shizune, whats up? Aren't you supposed to be handling everything in the hospital?" Tsunade asked. Shizune just stood there, as if she didn't even hear her.

"And whats wrong with your eyes...?" Naruto asked, looking closer at the medic nin's face.

Jiraiya looked closely at her and saw a drop of blood leave the sleeve of her robe...

And she just licked her lips.

"She's been bitten!" He shouts, tossing a kunai at her skull. It zipped right past Naruto's face and hit it's target. Naruto winced as Shizune's blood splattered a bit onto his face.

Everyone was shocked.

"No..." Tsunade whispered, overwhelmed from what just happened. She fights backs tears and reminds herself of the position she's in. She knows that if Shizune had became infected, everyone working in the building is as well. "Shit... Ino, have you reached your father yet?"

Ino shows signs of struggle, "I'm trying, but his mind is so occupied at the moment, I can't get to him."

Tsunade gritted her teeth, "He's probably fighting... I knew I shouldn't have sent him out. Naruto, Kakashi, and Ino, help Inoichi and tell him to spread the intel ASAP, and whatever you do, don't engage in combat with the infected unless its absolutely necessary. Once you've told him and spread the knowledge, Kakashi, I want you to confirm that everyone is safe and contained. Anko and Sakura, you stay with me and Jiraiya."

The males of Team 7 and Ino nod and exit out the office, via the hole in the window.

Anko grins as more infected individuals show up to the doorway of the office, "Fighting beside two of the Sannin other than Orochimaru... This should be interesting."

_***End of flashback***_

"I see..." Mumbles Shikamaru, rubbing his chin. "Well, I would say that the infected only go after the source that has the most chakra, but shadow clones have the same amount of chakra as you do, since it's split up evenly between you and your clones."

Naruto nods, his arms crossed, "Yeah, that's exactly what I thought, too. Not even the Byakugan or the Sharingan can tell the difference between me and the clones, so how can they do it?"

Shikamaru falls into his signature deep thinking pose when trying to solve the unsolvable.

"Maybe they only go after their first target before going after other ones?" Offers Naruto. Shikamaru shrugs. But before Shikamaru could say anything, the door to the room opens. They both see Ino.

"Guys, there you are... Listen, it seems we didn't check the estate fully." She says.

Naruto and Shikamaru got up from the bed they were sitting on, "What's wrong? Did you find another one of the infected?" Shikamaru asked cautiously.

Ino shook her head, "I found somebody... But she's not infected." Ino looked to the side and waved her arm to signal someone to step into the room with her.

Ino stepped into the room, and following in behind her was someone that neither Shikamaru nor Naruto would expect to see again.

Naruto hasn't seen her in so long, her name escaped him.

"Tenten?" Shikamaru asked incredulously. The weapons expert gave a weak smile to greet them.

"I found her in what I think was Hinata's room." Ino says, guiding her to the bed so she could sit. Her legs look like they could have given out any minute. As Naruto and Shikamaru looked her over, they saw that she looked terrible. The first thing they noticed was that her clothes were worn out and torn up quite a bit. She was holding an arm in front of her breast, so they could only assume that she got a tear in the front of her shirt. Her pants were missing a leg, and one of her sleeves were missing, while the other one only had half.

The second thing they noticed was her hair. It seemed faint, damaged, and lifeless... But most of all, it was free from her signature bun-bun style, which was why Naruto almost couldn't even recognize her.

Her face was the next thing they analyzed. Her eyes seemed tired, begging for proper rest. They had dark circles around them, which took away from her usual glossy, marble-like eyeballs. Her Hitai-ate was nowhere to be found, leaving her unclean, straw-like stands of hair known as her bangs to hang just above her eyes. The peach, healthy skin that used to cling to her body was now a bit more pale than Sakura's, but unlike Sakura's, Tenten's seemed ill. Her body overall seemed ill as well. While she used to have a great figure, she looked as though she may have been on the verge of starving to death. Her clothes that used to fit perfectly on her were now hanging on loosely to her feeble frame. Her dark red pants looked as though they could fall right off her if she wiggled her hips enough.

Shikamaru inspected closely and could tell that she wasn't far from falling to the infected. She had scars all around her, her biggest one coming from the side of her thigh, which was now visible thanks to the hole in her pants. She even had one at the base of her forehead, which her coated-in-dry-sweat bangs tried to hide.

All in all, the three other individuals in the room could tell that she's been through hell.

"Tenten... Are you alright?" Naruto asked sympathetically. He quickly realized how dumb of a question it was.

Tenten coughed, which was followed by a dry chuckle, "I can't say I've been in a worse condition..." She says. They could all hear how weak and broken her voice was.

Naruto frowned. He didn't know what to say next. Tenten was in a horrible state. Thankfully, Tenten decided to speak again.

"I can't believe there are other people uninfected... I thought I wa-" She was interrupted by another cough. This time, it was a lot more violent, making her hunch over in pain. Blood was seen flying out of her mouth onto her hand.

"Tenten, just try to sit still and not talk for a while, I'm going to get you something to drink." Says a concerned Ino, rushing off out the door.

Tenten groaned in agonizing pain and laid back on the bed with shut eyes. Shikamaru was going to ask her a few questions regarding how she survived this long, and when was the last time she ate or slept. But keeping her from talking for now would be the wisest thing to do.

Naruto and Shikamaru looked at her then each other, sharing the same sympathetic faces.

Ino returned a moment later with a tall glass of water. She sat on the bed next to Tenten and told her to sit up. She did as she was told while Ino wrapped an arm around her and held the glass up to her lips. She parted her dry lips and allowed the water to enter her.

To Tenten, this simple faucet water felt as though the Gods made it especially for her.

Surprising everyone a bit, Tenten snatched the glass from Ino and held it higher, despite the amount of water that was missing her mouth and pouring down the sides of her face.

Once Tenten was sure that every drop was gone from the glass, she gasped for breath and a longing and relieved look washed over her face, a similar face that someone would make after they've experienced the best orgasm of their life.

She cracked her eyes and was embarrassed to see how everyone was staring at her.

"Um..." She choked. "Sorry... I haven't had anything to drink or eat in days..."

Ino smiled slightly, "It's alright, I think I'd be the same way if I was in your condition." She then places a gentle hand on her torso. "Lay on your back so I can heal you."

As Tenten lies back down on the bed, Naruto and Shikamaru both blush and look away when they see that Tenten is no longer holding an arm above her chest...

Tenten sees this and blushes as well, both arms quickly moving to wrap over her slightly exposed chest.

Ino chuckles in mild amusement and shakes her head, "Well, at least they're gentlemen for looking away."

Soon, she was did what she could with the outer parts of Tenten's body. "Tenten, I'm gonna need you to move your arms away. I need to check your heart and ribcage too." Before Tenten could comply, she held up her hand. "On second thought, Naruto-kun, Shikamaru-kun, you guys gotta leave for a minute." She tells the only boys in the room. They both nod, their blushes still lingering, and exit.

Ino then turns to Tenten, "Tenten, can you step out of your clothes, please?"

Tenten gives her a strange look, "Um, I know we're both girls, but I don't really feel all that comfortable getting naked in front of anyone."

Ino chuckles, "I know, but it's hard for me to heal you fully with your clothes on... I'm not as good in medicinal chakra as Sakura or Tsunade-sama. "

Tenten wanted to argue with her about it, but her frail state shut her up and made her comply.

"I promise I wont touch you inappropriately. I already have Naruto." Ino joked. Tenten nodded and started undressing out of her damaged clothes.

She paused when she realized something Ino said.

"Wait. You said you already have Naruto?" Her eyebrow was peaked. "You and Naruto...?"

Ino smiles sheepishly, "Yeah... Naruto and I are involved with each other."

Tenten was surprised. "Huh. I gotta say I'd never expect it. I always thought you would end up with Shikamaru... Or Choji at least."

"Ugh, why does everyone think that?" Ino sighs. "Choji-kun and Shikamaru-kun are like my brothers. Dating them would feel like incest."

Tenten shrugs as she unbuttoned her top, "Well its good to see that you're over Sasuke. And Naruto is a good guy, I'm sure he makes you happy."

"Yeah, he's one of the best things that happened to me, despite everything that happened in the past few weeks." Ino then winces as she sees that Tenten's clothes are now off of her, exposing every single cut, scar, bruise, and overall sign of bodily damage inflicted on her. Her sickly looking skin and dangerously underweight body from lack of eating and rest isn't making her look the least bit better either.

Tenten sees Ino's face and looks down, "I know, I look horrible... If Hell is anything like what I went through, then I'll do anything to ensure I don't go there."

An unexpected hug from Ino made her jump.

Tenten hesitantly hugged her back.

Then the tears came.


	7. Chapter Seven: I'm So Tired

Ino let Tenten cry into her shoulder for the next few minutes. Ino couldn't help but let a few tears fall of her own.

Soon, Tenten separated, wiping her face with her hand. Ino did the same and gave Tenten a small sad look.

"Listen... Everything... Everything is fucked up, Tenten. The plague was so unexpected and sudden... No one had time to prepare for anything like this. But," Ino then smiles. "We survived. For almost a month into this whole thing. Naruto, Shikamaru, and I all believe that we can work our way out of this." She wipes a falling tear from Tenten's face. "And it'd be great if we had another hand in helping us."

Tenten had to let a few sobs go before speaking, "... I'd never imagined a time like this could even exist. Do you know how many times I contemplated suicide? I've never had to fight for my life so hard... I had a kunai ready to just end it all. In fact," she wiped away more tears. "I think the only reason I didn't end it all was because I was scared to... I'm not sure if I'm strong for talking myself out of it... Or weak for not giving in. I felt like an abused slave... and life was the master... "

To hear the forever confident and fearless Tenten speak like this brought more tears to Ino's eyes.

"Tenten... I can assure you that you're not weak for resisting suicide." She stepped closer to her. "To go through everything you've been through, for nearly a month, and survive is the best example of pure strength. A coward's way out is another name for suicide. You didn't do it because you know that you're strong and you would have been weak if you actually had done it."

She takes another deep breath, letting her tears fall down her face along with Tenten's. Wiping them seemed pointless now, it was as if they never stopped coming.

"I can honestly admit that you're way stronger than me. In every way. You've always been smarter, more dedicated, physically and mentally stronger than me ever since we've become kunoichi. I was weak because of my obsession with Sasuke, and if I had to choose my biggest regret, it would be that. But the biggest example that shows the huge gap in our comparison of strength would be everything that happened in the past month." Ino chuckles ruefully. "When this whole thing had happened... After the first day, I was already waiting to starve myself to death, to painlessly end it all. And it's not like I didn't have food, I wanted to starve myself. Had it not been for Naruto almost literally slapping me out of it, I don't think I would have lasted a week. I didn't even really try to put up a fight to live through it after I thought everyone but me and Naruto were dead. After around two days, Naruto and I had been safe together from then on, where we were actually... Happy. I mean, we didn't like how everything was, but we had each other and we enjoyed each others' company, living as if the plague hadn't taken place. But from what I see, you've been alone. Starving. Desperate. Fighting every night and day for your life. I don't think that, even now as I gained new confidence thanks to Naruto, I would have been able to endure half of what you've been through. Yet, you're still here, standing tall. A bit beaten and worn out, but you've resisted the urge to end your own life, which I think is even more difficult than fighting the infected. You're the strongest kunoichi I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, and you have my respect Tenten."

Tenten didn't know what to say.

"And now that we've found you, you can be happy again. You have three old friends willing to fight for and beside you, as well as make you happy. You don't have to fight as much as you used to anymore, Tenten. I promise."

Tenten ambushed Ino in a tight hug. A hug tighter than the one Ino gave her. The sudden action had surprised Ino, but she then smiled and answered her hug with one of her own.

"Thank you..." Tenten whispered. Her tears were rolling even faster now, but the sour tears that were created by sad eyes were now happy, excreting tears of relief and joy. "I'm so tired... I've been begging Kami to give me a break... I'm... I'm just so tired..." She was hugging Ino tighter and tighter with each word.

"I know..." Ino whispered back. "I know."

This bonding moment, this heart-to-heart embrace between a girl consoling a nearly broken girl had lasted until Tenten's tears went dry.

"Ino," Tenten whispered, her limp arms barely having the strength to hug Ino any longer, "I'm so tired..."

"I know you are." She responds. She then walks Tenten to the bed and tells her to get inside it. With Ino's assistance, Tenten was now tucked into a nice soft bed.

"Here," Ino said after reaching into her waist pouch, "Take one of these soldier pills. I know you're too tired to eat, but you need something in your stomach for now."

Tenten smiled weakly and took the pill and swallowed it.

Ino smiled, "You can finally go to sleep now, Tenten. I'll heal you while you rest."

The brunette nods and closes her eyes.

As soon as the blue-colored chakra developed over the palms of Ino's hands, Ino heard the soft and steady breathing from Tenten that signified that she had fallen asleep.

Ino smiled, "Goodnight, Tenten." She whispered before slowly taking the covers off of her so she can properly heal her.

* * *

><p>Ino left the room, and softly closed the door behind her. Shikamaru and Naruto were waiting against the wall across from the door.<p>

"Will she be alright?" Shikamaru asked. "You were in there for a while."

Ino nodded, "Yeah, she'll be fine. After she rests and starts eating normally like she used to, she'll be as good as new."

"...You've been crying." Naruto said, looking at the bags under Ino's eyes.

Ino had forgotten exactly how much she cried in there, "Oh, yeah... Tenten and I had a little heart-to-heart in there. But I'm fine, just a little tired." She told them, then followed after with a yawn.

"I think we all could use a little rest." Says Shikamaru. "It's been a long day, and we all could use some well-deserved sleep."

Naruto and Ino nod, "Yeah, so I'll see you in the morning, Shika. I'll probably be up in the middle of the night to check on Tenten." Says Ino.

"I'll sleep in the room next to her's, just in case." Shikamaru says.

Ino smiles, "Alright, that's good." She yawns again. "As I said before, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight." She takes Naruto by the hand and starts guiding him toward the bedroom.

"Yeah, goodnight. If Tenten wakes up for any reason, don't be afraid to wake us up and tell us." Naruto says.

Shikamaru smiles, "Will do. Night."

Once Ino and Naruto enter the bedroom, they quickly got into comfortable clothing and hopped into bed. Naruto was in boxers and Ino's father's pajama pants, while Ino was dressed in one of her night gowns.

Ino and Naruto cuddled, Ino having a leg and arm around him, while he laid on his back with an arm holding Ino, her head resting on his chest.

Ino sighed, "Today was such a long day."

"I know." Replied Naruto. Ino was about to fall asleep on his chest when her thoughts drifted to the situation that occurred earlier today.

She was about to say something, but Naruto, as if being the mind reader in this relationship, beat her to it, "I know you've been worrying about me, Ino-chan."

Ino turned her head to look at him, who was already looking at her. Naruto smiled. "I learned from that shadow clone you kissed."

Ino chuckled softly, "He did it, not me." She joked. "But I wanted to talk to you about what happened... Out there earlier." Ino then shook her head, "But if you want to talk about it tomorrow..."

Naruto shook his head, "We can talk about it now, I don't mind."

"Okay..." Ino paused for a second, "Um, I just want you to know that... You didn't break your promise. I'm fine, and nothing actually happened to me where I'm permanently hurt." She told him.

"No, I did break my promise." He responded, "I told you back in the Hokage tower that I'd never let anything happen to you, that includes letting your ribs get broken."

"But you didn't let it happen!" Ino says, looking deep in his eyes. "There wasn't much you could do. Shikamaru only saved my life because the zombie had no clue he was there, and Shikamaru delivered a finishing blow-"

"But I could have delivered that finishing blow." He says. "I missed where I was aiming my Rasengan. I-"

"That's not your fault." She interrupted. "Mistakes happen all the time. The zombie was stronger than both of us, and-"

"Ino-chan," Naruto chuckled flatly. "We can go back and forth on this all night. But the fact is that I wasn't strong enough to live up to my promise."

Ino was about to say something when Naruto shushed her, "However, it's not causing me stress anymore. I wont let it bother me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm still upset about what happened, and I always will be. But you and I are in one piece. And it's like you said, that's all that really matters. I thank Kami that Shikamaru was in the area when it happened, and I'm even more happy that we're all okay." He finished with a smile. Ino smiled along with him.

"See, I knew you wouldn't be too stubborn." She says before kissing him. His lips felt too good to pull away from, and the kiss lasted longer than they expected. When they parted lips, their faces being less than three inches apart, they looked into each others eyes.

They each saw the longing within their irises and connected lips again. This time, the kiss was a lot more passionate. More heated. More wet.

Naruto moaned into Ino's mouth when her hand found his hardening tool through his clothing.

"Ino-chan..." Naruto sighed. "We should stop now. I'm getting a little too horny again..."

Ino gave him a sly grin, "I know."

Naruto looked at her, "And you don't want to stop? Like we usually do when things get like this?"

Ino shook her head, "I believe that you've been patient enough." She then lines her lips up to his ear.

"Tonight, Naruto-kun... I want us to make love."


	8. Chapter Eight: The Act of Attachment

**_A/N: WARNING. This chapter contains a graphically detailed depictions of sexual activity, otherwise known as a lemon. Do not read this chapter if you are sensitive to such matters, and don't worry, you won't miss anything major in the story if you do decide to skip it._**

* * *

><p><em>"This... This is really happening? Ino-chan's being for real?"<em>

Naruto's question gets answered when Ino then kisses him with plenty of tongue and rubs his stiff manhood sensually through his lower body clothing, earning her more quiet moans from him.

Soon, Naruto decided that he wanted to take over. He put Ino on her back and continued kissing her, with him being partially on top of her. He then had one hand go for Ino's breasts, tenderly grabbing and caressing her flesh lovingly through the smooth material of her night gown. This made it Ino's turn to moan into the kiss, as Naruto went back and forth between squeezing her breasts and playing with her stiff nipples.

They broke the kiss, and Ino grinned at him, "Mm, I like it when you take over. I'm getting kinda horny myself..." She told him sexily. One day, Naruto and Ino had a long talk about sex while they were in the Yamanaka residence. Since Ino was more educated in the subject, despite being a virgin, she was able to teach him a few things.

Now a bit more educated in the subject, Naruto wasn't afraid to reply to Ino with:

"Oh, can I see for myself?"

The hand that was caressing Ino's soft busts were now heading lower down her body. He kissed her once it reached her panties. Ino's breathing and heartbeat started accelerating. Naruto knew that he was teasing her by very slowly creeping his hand under the small piece of clothing. As Naruto's hand crept lower, it met a small neat line of damp blonde hairs before finding the wet pair of lips he was looking for.

He split his lips from Ino's just as she moaned quietly at the contact. "Oh, you weren't lying, Ino-hime... It's very wet down here." He teased.

Ino grinned, an aroused blush tainting her cheeks, "I told you..." She then pulls his head in for another wet kiss. She slowly starts grinding her hips against Naruto's immobile hand, telling him she wanted more. Naruto caught the hint and his hand slowly started rubbing the outside of her slit with his loving fingers, gliding up and down her moist lips easily due to her slightly sticky lubrication. Ino sighed and moaned quietly, finding it difficult to keep her body still.

She gasps when she feels Naruto's middle finger invade her. She quickly felt how much wider and longer his finger was compared to her own, and bucked her hips when he started pushing it in and out of her.

"Naruto-kun... Baby..." Ino moaned his name when he added his ring finger into the equation. She grabbed his wrist, making Naruto begin to retract his hand, thinking that he was doing something wrong. Ino quickly whispered "No, no, no, no..." And pushed his hand back into her nether-region. She pushed his hand forward and back, telling him that she wanted it deeper. Naruto caught the hint and pushed his ring and middle finger deep inside her, causing her to groan and arch her back. Her hips moved in sync with his fingers each time they went back or forth.

Naruto then started kissing her chin, then under her jaw, then on the side of her neck, which was turning Ino on even more. She tilted her head back to give Naruto more access and spread her legs a bit farther.

The spiky-haired boy loved hearing Ino's moans and pleads for more. Her neck tasted slightly like sweat, but for some reason, it didn't offend Naruto in the least. It was actually a turn on. Her vagina was excessively lubricated, as well. He could faintly hear the gelatinous sounds it made every time he moved his fingers in or out of her.

"Naruto-kun..." She whispered hotly. Naruto looked up at her with a teasing grin.

"Yes, hime?"

"Get on your back." She told him, still moaning from his mobile fingers. Naruto retracted his hands from her underwear and did as he was told, wondering what his girlfriend was up to. Ino then got up and moved herself so that she was kneeling between his legs. She gave him a sultry grin and put a hand on the tent in his pants.

"You know... In the three weeks that we've been together, every night I'd think of how this moment would be like." She tells him as she caresses his hard member.

"Oh really? And what did you imagine when thinking about it?" Naruto asks.

"Well... I'd imagine us making sweet passionate love to each other for hours on end..." She answers, threading his swollen dick through his fly. It sent shivers down her spine when she looked at it. "However, now that we're in the moment... I don't want to rush to the love making just yet." She undid her hair from the ponytail she had it in, swinging her lustrous and long hair back and forth once or twice afterwords. She grasped his dick and felt how warm it was and faintly felt it pulsing in her hand. Naruto's heartbeat started quickening.

"I want us to do a few nasty things beforehand..." Before Naruto could reply, Ino moved her blonde bang out of her face and wrapped her lips around Naruto's flesh. Naruto's eyes rolled back as he gasped, leaving him winded for a moment. Naruto had never experienced anything like this before, and it felt wonderful. Of course, Naruto had no problem resorting to masturbation if he got too 'bothered' every now and then, but Ino's mouth felt better than anything his hand and lube could ever provide for him. Her tongue was licking the under side of his cock while it was surrounded by Ino's very warm mouth. Naruto had only read anything like this in a book Jiraiya had forced him to read when they were out training, and he could see why Jiraiya obsessed over it. He only wondered where Ino got the idea to do something like this...

Ino looked up at Naruto as she bobbed her head up and down. Seeing the pleasure plastered on his face made her grin. It made her happy, and horny, to see that she was pleasing him. She never did anything close to this before, so it made her feel good that Naruto was enjoying it, even as she was just doing what she thought might feel good to him.

As her head was down, her butt was high in the air. The bottom of her night gown rose higher up her back, exposing her black and purple lacy panties. Naruto saw them, along with a partial view of her ass. Ino saw where his eyes were looking and chuckled lustfully, shaking her ass while sucking on him even harder.

Naruto shut his eyes and tried to hold back his impending orgasm, but it was no use. Ino was just too sexy.

"I-Ino-chan..." Naruto choked out, "I'm gonna cum..."

Ino responded by sucking on him even more lovingly, stroking whatever won't fit in her mouth with her hand.

Naruto looks at her, surprised.

_"... Did she hear me? Is she really going to...?"_

The build up to his orgasm felt incredible. What Ino was doing to him made his eyes roll in the back of his head to the point where he thought he'd go blind.

Then, he came.

Ino felt the pulsing organ spew copious amounts of sticky white fluid into her mouth. The whole moment was so hot and erotic, she moaned at the same time Naruto did, swallowing the thick cum as fast as she could before it became too much to hold in her mouth. She didn't want to make a mess, after all.

Once Naruto took a deep breath and sighed, Ino slipped his semi-erect cock out of her mouth with an obscene 'pop!'. She giggled as she saw the large, relaxed smile on his face.

"Hee-hee! Did I do good, Naruto-kun?" She teased innocently. Naruto was so breathless, he couldn't even speak. He simply grinned even wider and nodded. She giggled again. She looked at his penis and saw it hardening again. Her lust grew as she saw it getting bigger.

"Hey, Hime." She heard, which took her attention away from Naruto's dick.

"Ye- Ahh!" She yelped in surprise when Naruto suddenly tackled her. Ino was on her back again, with Naruto on top of her. She giggled and Naruto laughed. The laughter soon turned into soft moans and grunts of pleasure when Naruto started grinding his bare dick against her moist opening through her panties. Ino's moans grew in volume when Naruto started grinding himself onto her harder and faster. But soon, Naruto kneeled straight and looked deep into Ino's eyes.

"I think you had a little bit too much fun so far, Ino-chan. I think it's my turn." Naruto tells her with a grin.

Ino grins along with him, "I couldn't agree more." She sits up and slowly undresses herself from her silk night gown, leaving her in a lacy bra that matched her panties. As soon as she tossed the piece of clothing across the room, Naruto kissed her delicately. He pushed his weight forward, sending Ino back onto her back. His lips then attacked her neck, making Ino sigh. Next came her collarbone. Ino threaded her fingers through his hair as he started caressing her legs and body with his hands. His hands soon found her breasts, which began to fondle and squeeze the soft flesh lovingly. Ino sighed and wrapped her legs around his waist. She felt his dick resting right on her womanhood, but the lack of movement was driving her crazy. The urge to rush everything and shift her panties to the side to let him enter was unbearable, but she managed.

She soon felt his hands reaching for the back of her bra, and she arched her back to let him access it. After a few seconds of fighting with it, Naruto undid it and threw it carelessly across the room, joining Ino's gown. He stared at her shapely breasts then her face and eyes.

"Damn, you are just so beautiful." He whispered. Ino blushed and smiled. Her beautiful voice produced a moan when Naruto latched his mouth over her pink, coin-sized areola. He suckled on her left nub affectionately, flicking her stiff nipple over and over with his tongue. Ino loved it. She whispered his name repeatedly as he pleased her.

Naruto wanted to show Ino's other breast equal attention, but he soon went lower down Ino's body, kissing and licking the bottom of her breast. Then her abs. Then her bellybutton. Ino knew what Naruto wanted to do, and she couldn't wait to let him do it.

Naruto kissed the top of her panty line and rose his torso up. He smirked at her as his fingers threaded in between the sides of her panties. He pulled them down, with Ino raising her smooth, sexy legs to assist him. He watched as the center of the panties stuck to her womanhood a bit. But soon, they met up with the matching bra on the floor.

Ino was in her nude glory, and her skin seemed to glow under the illumination of the full moon shining it's light through the window. Naruto couldn't stop himself from parting Ino's legs, hovering his face above Ino's pussy. Her scent grazed his nose. It wasn't an odor, but it was a scent that was so erotic, and it showed that Ino was very aroused.

Naruto kissed and licked the inner-most part of her thighs, which made Ino shiver.

"Naruto-kun, stop teasing me..." She exhaled as she bit her finger to stop herself from going crazy. Naruto chuckled. He looked down at Ino's glistening and blushing sex and admired at how beautiful it was. He placed Ino's thighs atop of his shoulders and kissed Ino's pussy before giving it a slow, sensual lick from bottom to top.

"Ooh...!" Ino moaned, arching her spine like a rainbow. Naruto looked up at her and grinned. Although Naruto found no actual flavor to her down there, he thought she tasted sweet. He gave her another lick, and Ino moaned and arched her back again, this time resting her hand on his head while the other one toyed with her breast. Naruto then dove his mouth and tongue onto her most intimate body part, making out with her other pair of lips. Ino was in heaven. She never stopped squirming or moaning as Naruto pleased her in ways she's never experienced.

"Uuhh... Mm, Naru-kun, that... Ooh, that feels _sooo_ good..." Ino whined, gripping at his hair and squeezing her breast as the pleasure made her tense up. Naruto ate her like an ice cream cone, licking all around her pussy lovingly with eyes shut, his main purpose focusing solely on pleasuring his girlfriend, who's juices covered a bit on his chin and a little on his cheeks.

The Yamanaka heiress then forms a gaping mouth when she feels two fingers slowly start to penetrate her again. Her smooth legs instantly wrapped around his head. Naruto's mouth moved up a bit, and his tongue found a pea-sized nub of flesh that was a bit hard. Naruto noted how much Ino squirmed and jerked around on the bed as his tongue lapped over it, and decided to focus his tongue and mouth solely on this area. His fingers also sped up their repetitions going in and out of Ino's drenched folds.

At this point, Ino couldn't stop her self from groaning and yelping loudly in sheer bliss.

Ino started to grip Naruto's hair hard, while her other hand gripped the sheets below her, almost tearing into it. She felt a build up from within, and she prayed that Naruto wouldn't stop.

"B-Baby, don't stop... Mmn, don't stop..." She encouraged breathlessly, "Keep going... Uuhhh... Just like that..."

Naruto continued fingering her and sucking her clit, despite how hard Ino was gripping his hair.

Ino's breathing then became uncontrolled and rapid, moaning and groaning as if someone was torturing her. Her body was squirming, giving Naruto a bit of trouble to continue pleasing her. "N-Naru..." She whispered with shut eyes, "S-Shit... Mmn, this feels... Oh my God... Uhhh, I-I'm gonna cum..." She told him breathlessly. "I'm gonna fucking cum..."

Naruto chuckled a bit to himself at the increased amount of profanity Ino was using, but nevertheless re-doubled his mouth and finger's actions.

Not too soon, Ino's orgasm hit her like a ton of bricks.

At first Ino had gone silent; every muscle in her body had tensed up painfully, especially her legs, which she tried not to lock around Naruto's head in a tight death lock. She was in deep need of oxygen, but a deep breath followed by a loud roar of pleasure had given her the breath she needed. Naruto hadn't stopped as his princess came. Juices rapidly started to pour out of her, which Naruto greedily lapped up like a dehydrated hound.

To Ino, she wasn't sure how long her sexual high had lasted. Seconds? Minutes? Hell, she could have thought it lasted for about an hour, with Naruto's efforts prolonging her bliss. But after a drawn out sigh, Ino's body went limp. Naruto released himself from her and raised his torso up.

"Did I do good, darling?" Naruto teased in the same tone Ino had used earlier. Her face held an exhausted grin similar to Naruto's after his orgasm. Ino even nodded the same way he did, grinning wider as she lazily watched Naruto lick his coated fingers clean. She rose up and kissed him, the couple wrapping their arms around each other as they engaged in a passionate lip lock.

They didn't care about what the other had done with their mouths prior to this. It was a kiss so passionate, they didn't even pay attention to it.

Ino pushed her weight forward, sending Naruto onto his back, Ino falling atop of him once again. She could feel his stiffened dick pressing eagerly against her wet lips and couldn't help but grind herself onto it.

Their lips separated, though the blonde couple's noses were just barely touching. They were doing more than looking into each others' eyes. It was like they were seeing into each others' souls.

"Naruto... I'm ready." She whispered to him, her blond hair surrounding both of their faces. Naruto responded with another deep kiss, and rolled over so that he was on top again. He looked at the space between their bodies and reached down to position his manhood toward Ino's womanhood.

He looked at her, "Ino... Are you sure?"

She kissed him, "I'm positive." She then smiles adoringly, "I want you to take me. Let's be each others' firsts."

"And lasts." Naruto replied, making Ino look at him warmly.

Naruto slowly moved his hips forward, and both of their hearts skipped a beat when the tip pressed against her lips. The Jinchuuriki had trouble finding her entrance, as it was slippery and a bit difficult to find, due to it's humble size. But soon, after feeling around for it, he found the untouched hole. He looked at Ino for one last confirmation. Ino smiled and nodded. He pressed his hips forward, and to Naruto, it felt like Ino's innocent canal sucked the first inch inside after getting past a bit of resistance.

_"Damn... it feels even bigger than it looks..."_

_"Wow... Its so wet..."_

Naruto pressed his hips forward a bit more until the second inch was inside.

_"Uhh... Shit, it feels like its getting bigger..."_

_"Its... warm, too..."_

Then the third inch.

"Ino-chan, you okay?"

"Yeah... Keep going."

Then the fourth.

_"..."_

_"..."_

Then the fifth.

_"Damn... Its not all in yet? It feels so big... I'm not sure if I can handle it all..."_

_"This feels so good... I feel like I could cum already..."_

Then the sixth.

"Mmngh..."

"Ino-chan, are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Honestly... It does..."

"Do you want me to pull it out?"

"No, no, no... No, y-you can keep going..."

"Are you sure? If it hurts, I don't want to-"

"No, I'm sure... It hurts, but it feels so good too..."

"Alright..."

Naruto inched his hips forward just a little bit more, and finally, Naruto and Ino were one.

Naruto sighed at how good it felt being completely inside her. He opened his eyes and saw Ino wincing.

"Ino-chan, I-"

She looked back at him, although she was still wincing. She smiled and ran a hand over his cheek, "Baby, I'm fine... I just have to get used to it."

Naruto nodded and smiled, "Okay. So tell me when you want me to start moving."

"Will do." Ino replied. Naruto then started to play with her breasts, making Ino purr in appreciation. He sucked and licked on the side of her neck and collarbone as well, easing the pain off of Ino by replacing it with more pleasure.

"Naruto-kun, you can move now." She whispered to him after he kissed her yet again. Naruto nodded and retracted his hips. He noted how Ino seemed to be tightening up on the inside, which increased his pleasure. He stopped once he was an inch or two away from slipping out of her, and pushed himself back into her at a moderate speed. He had to resist slamming right in...

"Shit," Ino hissed through her teeth, arching her back, "S-So deep..."

Naruto repeated the process, a little bit faster this time. He kept repeating it until-

"Go faster..." Ino whispered so low, Naruto almost didn't hear her. Naruto held himself on his hands, his eyes looking right into Ino's. His hips picked up a steady tempo and the couple exchanged moans and grunts of pleasure, though Ino was the one being a bit noisier.

Naruto's hair and bangs began to get heavy with sweat, moving back and forth in sync with his body. Ino's hair was spread out all over the bed. Her body bumped forward slightly each time Naruto's hips collided with her own.

She placed her hands on the back of Naruto's neck and looked in his cerulean eyes, "Naruto-kun," she whispered, "This is beautiful. It's everything I imagined it'd be."

Naruto smiled at her and kissed her forehead, "I'm glad. It's everything I imagined, too."

He then picked up his pace a bit, and Ino could help but bellow out another moan. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and pulled him closer.

"Deeper..." She told him. He complied and pushed himself as deep as he could go. The princess' spine bent and her mouth opened into a perfect circle in a silent moan. He could only grunt and hold back his impending orgasm at the awesome feeling of being completely inside of her. He pulled back a bit and shoved it all in again. And again. And again. Naruto had picked up a decent pace that had the bed shaking ever so slightly.

Ino moans were so high pitched, her voice began to crack. She was so wet, she was sure that she would leave a stain on the sheets below her. She embraced him tightly, clinging on to his body as he thrust his dick deep into her repeatedly.

"Oh, yes... T-That feels... So good... Ahhnn..." Were all examples of things she couldn't stop herself from saying between moans and grunts of pleasure. Naruto was groaning and breathing hard as well. He loved the feeling having sex with Ino. Her pussy felt incredible. It was so wet. So tight. So warm.

"Ino-chan..." He grunted, speeding up his pace a bit, "I-I'm close..."

Ino was so caught up in her own pleasure and developing orgasm, she almost missed what he said, "Oh yes, m-me too..." She whined in response. Naruto clashed his lips with Ino in a passionate kiss as his hips began to pick up more speed.

Ino's moans were getting louder.

Naruto's groans were getting more desperate.

The bed started creaking and shaking louder and more frequently with each thrust.

Their bodies became sweaty and hot, begging for release.

Then, the two blondes climaxed together as one. Ino's loud outbursts were muffled out by Naruto's mouth, just as his were muffled by her's. Their hips moved on their own accord during their orgasms, growing uncontrolled and desperate to seek even more pleasure.

Their mind-blowing climax had their minds going blank. They couldn't speak nor talk, and simply continued to lock lips even as their bodies had collapsed.

Some people view sex as nothing more than two bodies sharing a fun experience together. Some view it as a forbidden act that should not be performed for nothing more than the sole purpose of reproduction.

However, what Naruto and Ino did together was not just sex. It was an act that allowed them to share a connection on not only a physical level, but on a mental, psychological, and spiritual level as well. What Ino and Naruto just did was the true definition of love making.

Naruto parted lips with Ino and cracked his eyes, only to see Ino doing the same. His body felt heavy, but palliated as well.

They continued to stare into each others' eyes, sweating and recovering their breath.

"... I love you." Naruto broke the silence. Ino stared deep into his irises and saw that he meant every word.

She smiled, "I love you, too."

They both had to admit, it was weird to have ended up like this. Before the plague had broken out, they never would have suspected that they would have... done this. They were barely friends before this, and now they've just made love like a newly wedded couple. Naruto felt weird, having feelings for a woman who was best friends with a woman he used to have feelings for. Ino felt a bit uneasy feeling passionate about a boy that she used to be barely friends with, a boy that she had once ridiculed in the past for no legitimate reason at all. They knew, that had not the apocalyptic event manifested, this moment wouldn't have happened.

But they didn't care. They both saw each other on a new level. They needed each other.

"Um..." Naruto mumbled, "Do you want me to get off of you? Or...?"

Ino giggled, "No, silly. Let's just cuddle for a while."

Naruto smiled warmly and gently rested his body atop of Ino's. Ino hugged his body as her legs were still wrapped around him.

They continued this for at least fifteen minutes. Just laying there in silence, listening to the other breathe. Feeling the others' heartbeat.

"Thank you." Ino said suddenly.

"For what?" Naruto asked.

"Everything." She answered. She wanted to go into deep detail about why she was thanking him, but decided against it. She already knew what he would say, and she was sure Naruto knows what she meant by 'everything'.

Naruto smiled and pecked her on the lips, "Anything for you, Ino-chan."

She smiled, something she found herself doing a lot when she's around him.

"So... Are you tired?" Ino asks.

"Not really." He responds, "Why?"

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Get on your back."


	9. Chapter Nine: Distraught

**A/N: I would just like to give a quick heartfelt apology for my lack of updates lately. College, work, and other time consuming responsibilities/hobbies have been hogging my time. I can't promise updates will automatically become more frequent from now on, but I will try, since this school semester is over and I have more free time during the day. Broken, Bring Me To Life, Waging Tails, and any of my other stories will be updated soon, since I have been working on them in the little bits of free time that I've had while I was gone. So hold tight guys. I'm not done with FanFiction just yet. Just been busy as all hell. :)**

**And Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays btw!**

* * *

><p>The next few hours, dawn approached over the apocalyptic looking remains of a village known as Konohagakure. Diseased humans were outside, simply walking around, on a never ending hunt for sustenance. However, four survivors were at rest in a big estate, safe from them thanks to a barrier seal.<p>

The sun's rays began to tap upon Naruto's eyelids through the window, waking him up from his slumber. He groaned and flinched when he tried to open his eyes, his retina's having yet to adjust to such a sudden source of light.

His senses slowly started back up, and could feel a pressure atop of his chest. He managed to open his eyes up enough to see a head surrounded by messy blonde hair laying on his left pectoral muscle. Naruto smiles warmly. The thought of what happened last night couldn't prevent his smile from coming. Ino had her arm wrapped around him affectionately as well. The air coming from her nose from her breathing had tickled Naruto's chest slightly.

He stayed like this for a few minutes before deciding to get up to see whats up with Shikamaru and Tenten.

"Ino-chan." Naruto whispered, gently shaking her arm to rouse her.

"H-Hm...?" She mumbled lightly without opening her eyes. Naruto had found Ino's 'tired voice' adorable.

He kissed her forehead, "I don't mean to wake you Ino-chan, but I have to get up." He says softly.

"M'kay..." She whispered tiredly after nodding. She lazily lifted her head off of Naruto's chest and retracted her arm to let him free. Naruto sat up and looked back at Ino to see her getting comfortable to resume her slumber. He grinned when he saw the sheet covering only the lower half of her body.

He leaned over her and gave her a soft kiss on the lips, which Ino gave a delayed reaction to.

He moved the sheet completely over her nude body, stopping it just before her chin, "I love you." Naruto whispered into her ear.

"I love you, too..." She mumbled, still half-asleep. Naruto smiled and decided to leave Ino alone to resume her rest. He was about to leave the room before realizing that he was still nude himself. Finding the discarded clothes from last night on the floor, Naruto exited, making sure to close the door gently behind him.

Naruto walked to where Tenten and Shikamaru's rooms were. He cracked Shikamaru's door and saw him in his bed, still sleeping. He then cracked Tenten's, only to see her not in bed. He then closed the door and listened carefully for any rummaging around or footsteps in the house. He heard none. But of course, the estate was big, so Tenten could still be pretty much anywhere.

Naruto decided to simply ask Shikamaru. He walked in the room, and shook his shoulder, "Shikamaru. Shikamaru."

The pineapple headed boy groaned lazily, "Hm...? What happened...?" He asked, creaking his eyes open, rubbing the crust out of them.

"Do you know where Tenten is? She's not in her room." Said Naruto.

Shikamaru sat up, "Yeah, she's in here with me." As if in response, a body turned over next to Shikamaru in the bed. Naruto looked, and saw Tenten's face.

He stared at him in surprise. Before Naruto could vocalize any of his assumptions, Shikamaru held a hand up, "It's not like that. I heard Tenten scream in the middle of the night, and she told me she couldn't sleep without nightmares waking her up. So I let her sleep here so she could feel protected."

Naruto nodded slowly. He could relate to her on that. "Oh."

"How's Ino? Is she alright?" He asked.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, she's still sleeping. You can go back to sleep if you want. I was just checking on you both."

Shikamaru dropped his head back onto his pillow, "You don't have to tell me twice." He mumbled, closing his eyes. Naruto grinned and exited the room. Now, he was the only one awake, and found that he had nothing to do.

"Might as well train." He thought.

Naruto walked to the main room of the mansion and summoned over one-hundred clones. He commanded them to go outside of the building, and fight the infected. He knew his clones stood hardly any chance against them, but he figured that he could recall some of their memories when they disperse, and find out if they have any weaknesses or handicaps that he may not know of already.

The clones left and did as they were told. Next, Naruto summoned a few more clones and worked on his hand-to-hand combat.

* * *

><p>Ino woke to the sound of a loud crash. One that sounded nothing short of an explosion. Her mind and eyes were rudely turned on, and she immediately jerked her body forward, and looked around the room.<p>

She wondered if she was dreaming. She waited and listened carefully, but heard nothing. Until-

_CRASH._

Ino felt the room shake as the sound repeated. She was now sure that it came from beyond the room she's in.

It was then that she remembered Naruto wasn't in here.

She flipped the covers off of her, quickly put on her underwear and night gown, and left the room to investigate.

As she ran down the hallway, a door to her right opened. Shikamaru and Tenten hurried out of it.

"Did you guys hear those crashing sounds, too?" She asked.

The pair nodded, "Yeah, I'm not sure what it was, but-"

_CRASH. **CRASH.**_

The three became stiff with alarm. They all looked at each other and ran to the source of the sound.

As they ran, a familiar voice started becoming more coherent, "S-Shit...! Guys, help!"

They knew it was Naruto. And they knew he was in danger.

Once they reached the main room of the estate from the upper level, they looked down toward the entrance, and were welcomed to a very shocking sight.

Dozens of them. Inside.

Naruto and his clones were down there with them, attempting to fight back and hold them back from advancing, only to find that he wasn't doing so well.

Shikamaru was the first to act, and wrapped a kunai in a paper bomb. He tossed into into the heart of the crowd of undead shinobi, hitting one of them in the head. Then, body parts, blood, and organs were seen flying once the bomb detonated. Naruto was still struggling with some of the mutants at the front of the crowd, fighting them off as best as he could.

The door to the mansion was still open, and more of them began to charge inside.

Shikamaru clenched his teeth, "This isn't good... How did they manage to break in...?!"

"That's not important right now!" Ino said, "Naruto needs help! There's no way he can take on that many by himself!" Ino started to leap from the balcony she was standing on to assist Naruto, but Shikamaru stopped her.

"And I don't think you going down there with him will help him much." He said, firmly holding her arm. Ino glared back at him.

"Let me go! What else are we supposed to do, just sit here and watch?!"

"No," he said, "I still have a few Identiprofin needles back in my room, you and Tenten go in there and get them. I'll stay here and back up Naruto as much as I can."

Ino and Tenten hesitated, "Go! Now!" He exclaimed. Ino didn't particularly enjoy the idea of leaving Naruto and Shikamaru alone like this, but nodded and ran with Tenten back to his room.

He drew his last three kunai and paper bombs, and combined them. The first one went to the entrance, the second one was targeted for the middle of the crowd, and the third was aimed at the zombie that was grappling Naruto.

"Naruto, fall back! Those things are going to explode!" Shikamaru advised. Naruto heard him, and thanks to the kunai that dispatched the infected being holding him, he was able to retreat back up the staircase just before the bombs let off.

He was still thrown back, up the staircase by the force of the explosions, causing him to fall on his back, and skidded to a halt right by Shikamaru.

"Sorry about that." Shikamaru said, helping Naruto back onto his feet. He saw how much he had been roughed up, due to the bruises, gashes, and the rips in his clothing.

"I should be thanking you." Naruto mumbled. He was in pain, but could practically feel the power of Kyuubi healing his wounds already.

"Come on," said Shikamaru, "We can't stay here. Ino and Tenten are getting more Identiprofin, so we have to get injected before more of them come."

"Right." Naruto agreed, and took off to where Ino and Tenten were located.

After turning a corner, Naruto had no time to react to the body being thrown against him. He flew around 20 feet back down the opposite hallway with the body, and groaned in pain when his back slammed against the door at the end.

Naruto opened his eyes, and saw that the body belonged to Tenten.

Shikamaru looked at them, then at the area Tenten was thrown from. Ino was there, running toward him.

"They're coming through the windows!" She yelled. Behind her, was another undead being attempting to get through the window at the end of the hallway. She passed Shikamaru, and went to assist Tenten and Naruto. Tenten was now unconscious, but Naruto seemed to be fine.

"Did you get the needles?" He asked.

"I only found two." She said, while taking one out, and injecting it into Tenten's arm. "Tenten's unconscious, so she definitely needs it."

Shikamaru nodded, then heard the window smash.

"Come on guys! They're coming in quick!"

Without hesitation, Naruto picked up Tenten and held her on his back. The group then ran together, heading back to the main entrance.

Ino knew they were getting chased without bothering to look back, "Where should we go? We can't stay in here any longer." She said.

"We have to head outside and find a bit of refuge for a while." Said Shikamaru.

"Outside? There's thousands of them out there!" Exclaimed Naruto.

"But it beats running from them inside this mansion. There's more room outside, and they'll have us surrounded if we stay- Aaagh!" Shikamaru exclaimed when he feels a sharp pain in the back of his left thigh. He was ahead of the group, so the two blondes saw what hit him.

"They can throw weapons?!" Said Naruto incredulously as Shikamaru collapsed and skid to a halt. Ino and Naruto stopped by his side, but saw the dozens of infected beings heading straight for them.

Thinking fast, Naruto performed his Multi-shadow clone technique, and blocked their path with presumably one hundred clones. He turned around and did the same with the other side, using his clones as a temporary barricade.

Ino knelt by a wincing Shikamaru and took out the last Identiprofin needle, "This is the last one. You're hurt, so you need it more than us." She says, handing him the seringe.

He took the needle, then stabbed Ino in the arm with it, quickly injecting it's substance.

"Sh-Shikamaru! What the hell are you doing?!"

Shikamaru pulled the kunai out of his thigh, and pocketed it. He grinned up at his sister-like comrade, "Heh, a troublesome woman like you needs it more than me."

"But Shika, you're wounded! You won't be able to run as fast!"

Shikamaru shrugged, and Naruto looked over his shoulder, "Are you guys done back there?! I can't hold them off much longer!" He asks, as creating more and more shadow clones was not only eating away at his chakra, but was providing them less protection as they drew closer.

"Ino, take Tenten, and find another house or building to settle in at. You're both protected now, so you wont have to worry much." Shikamaru says.

"But Shikamaru..."

"Listen to me, Ino." He said strongly, "Do as I say. You're already injected. So the best thing to do would be to protect yourself and Tenten while you still can. Naruto and I will be right behind you."

Ino knew that Shikamaru was lying to her. She knew that they, especially Shikamaru, might not make it out of this.

But she knew he was right. She took Tenten off of Naruto's back, and placed her on her own.

Before taking off towards the exit, she looked back toward them, "...Be careful." She advised.

Shikamaru nodded, "Don't worry about us. Just go."

Ino hesitated for a moment, before following Shikamaru's orders.

Naruto was still busy making more shadow clones, although the zombies were getting past them faster than the rate he was making them.

"Damn it... Shikamaru, what do you think we should do?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru stood up and took the kunai he just pocketed.

"We do this." He infuses his chakra with the kunai and tosses it past the shadow clones, on the floor, in front of the large crowd of zombies.

"You missed!" Naruto says.

"No, I didn't." He replies. "Send your clones to the other side of us. The ones over there are immobilized."

Naruto was a bit skeptical, but complied. He sent his clones past them, to the other crowd of zombies to assist the other clones. And to Naruto's amazement, the other side of infected were indeed, incapable of moving.

"Their shadows are connected." Shikamaru answered Naruto's question before he could ask it, "It's my Shadow Imitation Shuriken Technique. I used it back when we fought Kakuzu and Hidan. And with a large group of zombies huddled up together like that, it makes using this technique more useful."

Naruto always wondered how Shikamaru had a normal sized head, with that big brain of his, "Ah... I don't suppose you can do the same thing with the other side?"

"Unless you have another kunai on you." He said. Naruto shook his head, seeing as he was still in his pajama pants, "Didn't think so. Besides, all we have to do is get past them." He pointed at the crowd of immobilized undead shinobi and citizens. Naruto gave him a hesitant look before complying and began walking into the crowd.

Naruto and Shikamaru squeezed themselves past all of the zombies. It crept both Naruto and Shikamaru out how even though they were immobilized, they would react to their presence as they got closer. They would snarl, hiss, and chomp their teeth at them, getting more frantic as they drew near. They made no attempt to hide their lust for carnage and blood.

But soon, the two shinobi make it to the other side.

"So, now what?" Naruto asked, supporting his wounded friend.

"We can finally get the hell outta here." Shikamaru replies through his teeth, which were clenched because of the pain in his leg.

"How are we gonna do that? You practically sealed off the exit..."

"I don't really know." he said, just now remembering the infected have been coming through the windows. Naruto knew hearing those words from Shikamaru practically meant they were screwed, "The windows aren't an option. There's no other exits, and we can't burst our way out the walls since we don't have bombs of any kind... and even if we did, these walls are reinforced. This place is like a castle."

"So is there anything we can do?!" Naruto asked frantically.

"Just... let me think for a minute..."

"I hate to sound pessimistic, Shika, but I think you have a little less than a minute." Naruto utters, watching more and more zombies attempt to get past the immobilize ones.

"I'm aware, Naruto..." He replies with closed eyes, his mind trying to process a plan for their predicament.

Naruto sighs as he watches the undead get closer to them, "Hey, Fox."

**"Oh, in trouble, hm?"** Kyuubi taunts, making Naruto roll his eyes.

"Yes, gimme some of your chakra!"

**"And if I say no?"**

"We both die!"

**"...I suppose I can lend you a portion of it."** She hums. **"Make your stupid Rasengan."**

Naruto doesn't hesitate to create another clone and begin creating one of his most prized jutsu. As the clone swirls the chakra he emits out of his hand, he can see the color of it has changed from an oceanic blue to a fire red.

"N-Naruto...?" Shikamaru mumbles in awe, seeing the red chakra flowing around Naruto and his clone. He knew about him being the holder of Kyuubi no Yoko, but never saw Naruto's eyes change to blood red and have slitted pupils. Not to mention his more pronounced whisker marks and extended razor sharp canines.

Naruto's clone then dispersed, leaving him with a large, demonic swirling ball of chakra in his hand.

The zombies began to approach, eager to claw at him and feast on his flesh.

As they drew closer, the growling Naruto... grinned.

"You guys don't know who you're messing with." He declared. He charged for the closest undead being and rammed his Rasengan straight into its face.

Then, seconds after impact, the Rasengan expands and blasts anything in its path in a dark red beam of raw evil chakra, incinerating everything it comes in contact with. The blast stretches out for over a mile, exiting out all the way through the other side of the mansion.

"Whoa...!" Shikamaru utters in awe once the jutsu passed. Anything that came in contact with the jutsu was absolutely demolished. It blasted all the way straight through the other side if the mansion, exposing a large hole to the outside. Blood and body parts decorated the wrecked halls of the mansion, proof that the dozens of zombies after them were no more.

Shikamaru jumped when Naruto's demonic eyes landed on him.

**"Come on, we gotta go before more shows up."** He told him. Shikamaru was relieved, he was unsure if Naruto was going to turn against him in this state.

"R-Right."

* * *

><p>"Stupid Shikamaru..." Ino whispered under her breath. She pushed past many of undead civilians and ninja, unable to find a location she could settle herself and Tenten at while the effects of the drugs were still kicked in. "What was he thinking, splitting us up like this... Now how are they supposed to find u-"<p>

Her words were cut off by a light rumbling of the ground. She looks behind her and sees an unreal blast of chakra bursting out of the side of the building she was just in a few minutes ago.

_"Wh... what the hell was that...?!"_ she pondered to herself, _"Could that have been Naruto?"_

Before she could have even completed her sentence, the dozens upon dozens of rotten and diseased ninja around her begin to swarm over to that area.

"No, no, no... shit!" She growled. Her first instinct was to head in that direction as well, to help her lover and best friend. But she remembered she's currently carrying an unconscious friend on her back, with a time limit regarding how long she can stay out there before they begin to attract the undead like moths to a flame.

She tried to calm herself down, _"Okay Ino, just do as Shikamaru said... They'll both be fine. They'll be okay..."_ she attempted to convince herself before moving forward.

_"I need a place I can hold Tenten and I temporarily while we wait for them. Somewhere close by, so they don't have to travel far."_ After turning down one of the main roads, Ino looked up and spotted a third story balcony on an apartment complex with many dead plants and flowers. She then looked behind her and noted that the balcony stood over many other buildings, so she could most likely see the entrance to the Hyuuga compound from there.

"Perfect."' Ino mumbled. She jumped up to the balcony, and placed Tenten carefully on the ground while she went inside the room to check if it's clear. She opened the door slowly and peered inside.

_"Too dark..."_ Ino said subconsciously. She then grabbed a pot from off the balcony and tossed it in the room, which crashed with a loud shatter once it hit the floor.

She waited for a response, but heard nothing. She then slowly entered the dark room, with a kunai in her hand. She tiptoed along the creaky floorboards, hands slowly running up and down the walls for a light switch. Once she found one, she took a deep breath and turned it on.

With a sigh of relief, she relaxed upon seeing that the room was empty. She then turned around to grab Tenten and pull her inside. She hoped Tenten would wake up soon, since-

"O-Oh..." Ino froze as she saw something on the dresser near the bed. She then looked around the apartment and collapsed on the floor, her face in her palms.

On the dresser, was a framed picture of her deceased sensei, Asuma Sorutobi.

"Damn it...!" she choked. She was shocked to see that she hadn't realized who's apartment this was earlier, telling from it's location, and the rotted flowers... She was Ino's best customer when she ran her flower shop.

"Okay..." Ino sniffled, standing up, "Now isn't the time to mourn. We have to get this place sealed up before this repellent or whatever wears off." She then stepped out onto the balcony to go and pull Tenten inside.

She opened the door. Her eyes widened.

Tenten wasn't there.

She quickly looked around over the balcony, searching to see if maybe Tenten woke up and ran off because she got scared. The infected couldn't have gotten her, the Identiprofin still has maybe ten or so minutes of time left until it wears off. And even if it did wear off, the infected _eat_ the living, not kidnap... or maybe some of them do. She just recently discovered that they can throw kunai, after all.

"Tenten!" she called out at the top of her lungs. She frantically turned her head back and forth, trying to find a moving figure in the streets, or possibly along the rooftops...

Looking to her right, she spotted movement around 100 meters away on top of a building. She squinted her eyes to see if it was Tenten, but only saw three figures moving about the rooftops. As she strained to look closer, she barely made out the shape of an unconscious body being carried by the figure in the middle. The figure seemed to be cloaked, and Ino was pretty sure it wasn't one of the infected.

"Hey!" Ino called out. Just as she put her foot on the balcony railing to leap off of it, she looked down and saw two Jounin and two Chuunin zombies who turned around and reacted to her outburst. They clearly were looking up toward her, and leaped up after her.

"Shit!" She gasped and receded back into the building, quickly closing the door and pressing her weight against it. She struggled to keep the door closed against the undead beings banging against the door. Four against one were not good odds, Ino quickly realized. They growled at her ferociously, and made it clear they wanted to rip her apart.

_"God, please get me out of this..."_ she quickly prayed. Her strength to keep the door shut was deteriorating fast, and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep them out much longer. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and ran to the other side of the room. She turned around and got into fighting position, with her kunai ready in her palm.

"If I'm going down, I'm gonna at least take a few with me." she declared, staring intently at the door that was about to be ripped off its hinges. Not a second later, the infected broke the door down, and the first two that entered had clumsily lost their balance once the door fell, and fell onto the floor along with it. Ino quickly took advantage of this and pierced the back of their skulls with the kunai, dispatching them immediately. The two other zombies crept in after her, and Ino sharply got up to ram the bloody kunai into one of their heads. The zombie went limp with a strained gurgle, but the other one had lunged at her while her hands were occupied.

The remaining undead being tackled her to the floor, pinning her below him. Ino held the zombie by its throat, making sure to keep it's eager mouth away from her flesh. She used all her strength to keep it at bay, and Ino was becoming convinced this was it for her. It drooled and hissed at Ino's face, which was less than a foot away from his teeth, and was very slowly closing the gap as Ino's strength started withering away. Her nails dug into it's diseased throat and slimy skin in an attempt to weaken him, only to find that the zombified Chuunin seemingly was unaffected as blood poured down her hands.

The zombie, getting more wild and irritated by the second, grabbed at Ino's arms. It's nails dug into her forearms, piercing into her skin and muscle.

"Aaghh!" she cried out in pain. Due to the adrenaline, she didn't feel it as much as she should, but that soon wouldn't matter as her now damaged arms was quickly losing strength. It's rancid teeth got closer to her face, ready to rip away the first thing it comes in contact with.

_"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun."_ Was her last thought as her arms finally gave away. The zombie then pressed forward, and-

**_*SPLAT*_**

The pressure from the zombie was lifted off Ino's body. Expecting to be in excruciating pain, Ino opened her eyes.

She jumped a bit once she saw his bubbly red cloak all around him.

**"I refuse... to just let you die."**

Ino could only stare in awe at Naruto, who was at her feet on all fours, with three red, slightly transparent tails made of pure evil chakra flowing behind him. She looked to her right, only to see a splattered mess on the wall. She could only guess it was the zombie that was on top of her, as whatever was left of it looked like someone threw a tomato at a wall at 85 mph.

"Na... Naruto...?" she asked, frightened. His blood red eyes were set solely on her, and she was unsure if she should be relieved or afraid.

"Ino, it's okay." said another voice, behind Naruto. A limping Shikamaru emerged from the balcony and stood beside Naruto. "He's okay, it's just the Kyuubi's chakra."

She looked back at him, who was still staring at her. Naruto, after seeing the fear in Ino's eyes, closed his own. One by one, his chakra tails slowly receded back into its cloak. Then, the cloak itself started to dissipate, and Naruto got off his hands and stood up.

"The barrier jutsu is up, guys. So we'll be safe here for a bit." Shikamaru stated, "Ino, are you alright?"

Ino couldn't respond, and continued to stare into Naruto's red eyes. She was still in shock. She was ready to die. And Naruto saved her life, only to see Naruto three-tails deep into his Kyuubi state. She wanted to say something, but her brain needed a second to reboot.

She flinched a little on reflex once Naruto knelt beside her and raised his hand toward her, unsure of what he was going to do. A clawed finger gently dragged down her face. A small soft smile was plastered on his Kyuubi-like features, **"... I'm sorry, Ino-chan."**

Ino raised her bloody hand to caress Naruto's clawed one. His skin was still hot from the boiling cloak, but Ino didn't care.

She looked deep into his eyes, and her fear and caution was replaced with adoration and love as she realized that these were still Naruto's eyes looking at her, "Don't be... you saved me."

Naruto smiled at her and leaned in for a kiss. She gladly accepted, although she could feel his sharp canines poking at her lips.

Once they separated, Naruto's eyes returned to blue, and his features were normal again. He got up, and carried Ino onto the nearby bed. He sat beside her, and Shikamaru did the same on the other side of the bed.

"I told you we'll be okay." Shikamaru said with a smile.

Ino looked at him, "So you did... how did you guys find me?"

"We heard your obnoxious voice." Shikamaru taunted. Ino sent him a playful glare.

"We followed it until we saw the four zombies trying to break in here from a distance, so we figured you had to be inside." said Naruto. He then sighed, "...Once I saw them go in thought I was going to lose you, Ino-chan."

Ino reached to hold Naruto's hand, even though it hurt to do so with her punctured forearms, "I thought I was done, too. But it looks like I managed to hold them off just in time." she caressed his hand with her thumb, and looked at the Nara Boy, "My heroes."

Naruto looked down and saw the condition of Ino's arms. Ino followed his gaze, then looked at him reassuringly, "It's nothing, Naruto-kun. I can heal this easily."

Naruto slowly nodded, then looked around, "...Where's Tenten?"

Ino avoided eye contact.


End file.
